Islamic Life

3 things which will make your journey of becoming an effective parent easy.

2021-05-23T01:58:00.004-07:00

3 things which will make your journey of becoming an effective parent easy.

Parenting is an art and science, but don't worry even if you have done commerce or not completed your education you can still be a great parent.

We have to keep in mind following 3 things in order to make our parenting journey easy.

1. Open Mindset

We all have some preconceived notions as to how parenting should be done; it could be due to how we were raised or how we saw other people raise their children. Some of the things may be good but there is a high probability that the method was wrong.

So we should have an open mindset that whatever we knew about parenting could be wrong.

2. LLL - Life Long Learner

A great part of parenting is facing challenges. Our children will continuously throw challenges at us, the challenge thrown by a 3 year old would be different from the challenge thrown by a 10 year old or even an 18 year old.

So we should be willing to adapt to the situation, learn new parenting skills and help our children in their transition into adulthood.

3. Last but not the least, Patience.

While we are upbringing our children we will need loads and loads of patience.

Parenting is not a 1 day job, 1 week job or a 1 month job, it is a life long process. To be an efficient and effective parent we need to have patience.

✓Patience in teaching our children good habits.

✓Patience when they fall in trouble.

✓Patience in helping our children understand themselves, their emotions and ways of expressing their emotions in a healthy manner.

If we implement these three things:

1. Open Mindset

2. LLL - Life Long Learner

3. Patience

then our journey of becoming an effective parent would become easy.

-Abrar Ibn Ibrahim.

An educationist and father of 3 amazing children.

Don't let your child have this regret at his/her death bed.

2020-11-08T01:02:00.001-08:00

A study was conducted with people who were on their death bed and they were all asked a single question.

What is your biggest regret in life?

The overwhelming response from the people who were at the end of their life was something along the lines, "I wish I had lived a life true to my self, not the life that others expected of me."

I bring this up because the concept embedded in this thought is the biggest obstacle we and our children are facing today.

We let life live us , we don't live life.

We choose to be responsive and reactive to the different things that are thrown at us ,sure making the most of it but also not being ambitious and looking to create an alternative for ourselves. We are so strongly influenced by other's expectations that we default to meeting their standards rather than setting our own, and this influence is so sub concious and deeply ingrained in our decision making that it becomes the greatest regret while dying.

Even though parents may be having the best of intentions for their kids, they end up pushing them on this path by deciding what success is and trying to mold them(children) in to someone who can achieve this pre concieved success and end up influencing them in a negative way.

So what can we do so that our children don't have this regret while dying?

1. We should encourage them to live life actively and not passively.

2. We should teach them to be intentional in whatever they do.

3. We should allow them to set their own values (guiding them, so that they don't end up having low values).

4. We should nurture them in such a way that they learn to make decisions about where one should put his/her own time and energy.

5. We as parents should assist them in determining what fulfilment ,happiness, joy, success mean to them and not everyone else.

When these children who are nurtured upon the above fundamentals turn in to adults and begin to think independently, they attract opportunities and manifestations of those thougths.

They will slowly find alignment in their life and the passionate inspiration that comes with it, which is the secret ingredient of a fulfilled life.

Parents should understand that their role in upbringing of children is similar to that of someone growing a plant. We can water the plant, protect it from harmful things, put fertilizers; but we cannot make an apple tree give mangoes.

Hope this article helps parent in their pursuit of upbringing happy and healthy children who will become assets to the world at large.

- Abrar Ibn Ibrahim

(I am an educationist, who believes that proper knowledge combined with correct implementation is the only path to betterment of self and society).

I can be reached at abrar.mujawar@gmail.com

2018-10-04T02:22:00.001-07:00

3 books every Muslim must read daily at home

Allah the Most High is more merciful to man than man himself. It is from this infinite mercy that Allah didn’t leave the slaves to themselves, rather He the Most High sent his chosen slaves I.e. messengers and sent down books in which there is light and guidance. Through the books and messengers, man comes to know his purpose of existence and existence of universe and recognises his true God, one who is worthy of worship; Allaah.

Allah the Most High has given his believing slaves a special command, as it is mentioned in Surah Tahrim 66:6

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ وَأَهْلِيكُمْ نَارًا وَقُودُهَا النَّاسُ وَالْحِجَارَةُ عَلَيْهَا مَلَائِكَةٌ غِلَاظٌ شِدَادٌ لَّا يَعْصُونَ اللَّـهَ مَا أَمَرَهُمْ وَيَفْعَلُونَ مَا يُؤْمَرُونَ

O you who have believed, protect yourselves and your families from a Fire whose fuel is people and stones, over which are [appointed] angels, harsh and severe; they do not disobey Allah in what He commands them but do what they are commanded.

In the tafsir of this verse, Hafiz Ibn Kathir mentions statement of Ali ibn Abi Talib(may Allah be pleased with him) in his famous tafsir Ibn Kathir.

“علمو انفسكم وأهلكم الخير”

Teach your self and your children The Good.

A Muslim who cares for himself and his family, must strive his best to learn the khair.

As paradise and hell are recompense from Allah, a person who does good for him is good and one who does evil then his recompense is as such.

Khair lies in learning the deen , implementing it and teaching it to others.

Apart from attending gatherings of Ahle ilm or listening to lectures online(true Ahle ilm who do not speak from ones desire nor twist Quran and Sunnah to justify oneself) one should make a habit of having a gathering of ilm at his home with his wife and kids.

As we are living in a time about which Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said :

A time will come upon people, the example of one who is patient upon his deen is that of a person holding burning coal in his/her hand.

And in another Hadith,

A person would sell his deen for dunya.

It becomes more important for a person learn his deen and make his family learn the deen, so they remain firm upon Islam, especially in times of trial.

1. Short tafsir of Quran

Every day make a routine either after fajr or whenever comfortable read 1 page of tafseer (just plain reading in case something is not clear you can always ask your local scholar)

Better to start with the last juz of Quran, whose surahs are mostly memorised and often recited.

Eg Ahsanul Bayan in Urdu/ Hindi

Noble Quran by Dar us salaam in English

2. Riyadh us Saliheen

This is a beautiful book well recognised amongst the scholars all over the world, covers a variety of topic especially related to softening of heart

Dar us salaam has published a very good copy with a brief commentary.

3. Sealed Nectar.

Many muslims claim to love the prophet and would even die for defending his honour, but very few know about his life and conduct.

This book is one of the best books regarding Prophets biography concise and to the mark.

Links of above books are available below, one can get it delivered at his door step.

1. Tafsir of Quran

Urdu : Ahsanul Bayan

http://amzn.to/2wTKlHT

English : Noble Quran

http://amzn.to/2wRQfct

2. Riyadh us saaliheen

http://amzn.to/2wSefMH

3. Sealed Nectar

http://amzn.to/2wT8puc

Initially try to read from one book a day.

Eg. Monday tafseer

Tuesday Riyadh us saliheen

Wednesday Sealed Nectar.

Slowly one can increase it depending upon himself.

Regarding this one should remember the saying of scholars

Little which is done regularly is better than a lot which is done once and left.

A story a day

2017-10-14T02:29:00.001-07:00

Allah has created man in such a manner, that he likes stories ( we all can relate, how we used to love listening to stories from our grand parents though imaginary and absurd it was).
Stories have a great impact on human life, no doubt Allah has mentioned so many stories(qasas) in the Quran, apart from being interesting it teaches valuable lessons of life.

During this era of electronic outburst people hardly find time to read such stories alone or with their family.

One of the best ways to be connected with our children , especially in this era of distraction and electronic games, is to sit with them and read a story.

One of the best book in the topic of stories, is “Qasas ul Ambiya “ or ”Stories of the Prophets” by the great author of Tafisr Ibn Kathir, Hafiz Ibn Kathir.

One can easily get it in the local Islamic book store,
those who wish to get it delivered to their household can order via the link below.
p.s. We all are shephards and we’ll be asked regarding our flock (family)

Allah The Most High does not do injustice !!

2017-07-28T23:25:00.001-07:00

From the infinite blessings of Allah The Most High upon the slave is that, Allah The Most High has not burdened a soul with keeping account of his deeds himself, rather Allah The Most High has appointed special angels, Kiraaman Kaatibeen; whose duty is to keep records of deeds.
If Allah The Most High had burdened a soul with keeping record of his good deeds, and only those which are kept in record would be rewarded, then life would have become miserable, every person would be seen carrying pen and paper, recording his good deeds, and man by his nature forgets things.
Similarly, if Allah The Most High had made a rule that only those bad deeds which you remember will be forgiven and you will be punished for those which you have forgotten life would become unbearable .

Rather Allah The Most High who is Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem removed this burden from man and kept it upon himself to keep the record of everyone's deed because it is only Allah The Most High who doesn't do injustice and who doesn't forget.

(Taken from Allah ka Taaruf Dars 20 of Shaykh Abu Zaid Zameer(حفظه الله))

Threats to Veil: Lurking Dangers at Modesty

2012-03-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

The most dangerous events for a Modest Muslimah, where her veil is under the threat are Nikah in a family or festivals of Eid. These two are the events when cousins and other relatives crowd even around veiled Muslimah and take liberty to talk to her freely.

I have seen marriages of girls who have never shown their face to naMahram but in their own weddings during the final stages of walima, their cousins swarm on the stage to take pictures of the bride along with them. Obviously till then the hall was segregated and no males were allowed in to even look at the bride who other wise is in her niqab. But the cousins take it as their right to invade, keeping aside all the norms of Hijab. the invasions are such milliantly liberal that even the bride is helpless. Where are the elders at that time?

During Eids, grown up younger cousins chase modest cousin sisters asking for eidee ( Eid gift) and stretching their hands to have an "Eid mumbarak handshake". How painful it is to realise that our own relatives are the ones who pose a threat to our modesty!

The cyber lanes are the most dangerous lanes for Muslim men and women. Even with pages on deen and posters and notes on deen can lead you to a dangerous situation. Talking and discussing with Namahram and then getting personal with them which begins with clicking likes and putting comments under the notes, shares and postes of young girls. On the faceof it , it doesnt seem to be haram nor can any one declare it to be.. Is it haram to say Mashallah under a girl's poster? Pops up a question. Well it cannot be termed Haram but if it tempts then Surah Isra makes is very clear that " Do not go close to adultery " Dont forget that you can never fool Allah.

Nothing gives more liberty than school and college campus. Selfish protocals inform you that you have to be polite even when refusing a valentine day card or a bouqette of roses on rose days. "You may share tea and coffee in college canteen with boys on their birthdays while you continue wearing your niqab and hijab in campus " Urge girls from your friend circle. How can you stay aloof from a birthday party when the boys are so generous and "decent too " !!!

These are microscopic dangers which can spread like virus in your heads and hearts if you succumb to it. After all the most dangerous viruses that are fatal also come in microscopic size , dont they ? yet we take them as a danger to our life.. Then how about treating these dangers which appear microscopic but can be fatal to your most precious wealth.. your modesty ?

AUTHOR : Nisaar Nadiadwala canbe reached at nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com

Women of Paradise!!

2012-03-21T22:50:00.002-07:00

Khadijah bint Khuwailid

A lady who experienced wealth and hardship, a mother whose children gained dignity of their own, a wife whose consoling words calmed the Prophet (saws) and an example for the world for generations to come: this was Khadijah bint Khawailid, may Allah be pleased with her.

She was the first person to accept Islam as her religion and her way of life. She was earned the honor of being greeted with Salam by Allah(swt) and the Angel Jibril.

Khadijah was the first wife of the Prophet. At the time of the marriage, the Prophet was twenty-five years old, while Khadijah was forty years old. They lived happily together for more than 24 yrs, and Khadijah bore several children. Their first child, a son whom they named Qasim, died when he was only two years old. However, Muhammad(peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) and Khadijah also had four daughters who survived: Zaynab, Ruqayya, Umm Kulthum and Fatima. Then Abdullah was born but he also died in his infancy.

When Prophet was visited by the Angel Jibreel. At first, when he heard the voice and saw the angel, he was shocked and terrified.The angel asked him to recite/read: “Iqra.” i.e the 1^st – 5 verses of surah ‘Alaq or surah Iqra”. This became first revelation of Quran. Then, the angel disappeared Muhammad(peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) was left alone, shaking and quivering at this most astonishing experience. Upon seeing her husband in this shaken-up state, Khadijah was surprised and comforted him to the best of her ability. Khadija soothed him more by saying that Allah would never disgrace him or humiliate him: he was good to the orphans, always helped others and always epitomized perfection of character and honesty. These simple words gave Muhammad(peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) immeasurable calmness , strength and contentment.

Khadijah took her husband to her cousin, Waraqa, and he explained that Muhammad(peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) was visited by the same angel that visited the other prophets with revelation. He told Muhammad(peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) that he would be driven out by his own people and he would be a Prophet.

Khadija, may Allah be pleased with her, continued supporting her husband, the Seal of the Prophets as he continued receiving revelation. She spent her wealth in the cause of Islam and when the Makkans carried out a total political and economic boycott of the Muslims, she endured likewise. Khadijah , a woman who grew up in the lap of lavishness, bore the hardships of sacrifice because she knew the Hereafter was more important than this life. Unfortunately the boycott left Khadijah extremely weak and she soon passed away.

Even after her death, the Prophet would send food to Khadija’s friends and always remembered her regularly. Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, would proclaim her natural feminine jealousy to the Prophet (saw) whenever he spoke of Khadija. She asked him why he remembered her so much when now, Allah had blessed him with a younger, better wife. The Prophet got disappointed by this question. How could he not remember the woman who was there for him when the whole world was against him? How could he not appreciate the sacrifices of this noble woman of Quraish who gave up her content life for a life of sacrifice and utmost patience? And how could he disregard the pure beauty and faith of the woman who even Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) and the angel Jibreel had said salaam to? No, he could not and would not forget his Khadijah, his first love, and neither should we. Her example as one of the four best women of the world shines brilliantly for us.

Shyness is of two types

2012-03-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

Shyness is of two types:

1. What consists of character and disposition and cannot be acquired. Shyness is the behavior Allah granted the servant. The Prophet sallallahu alayhe was salaam said " Shyness brings about nothing but good." It prohibits a person from committing despicable actions and displaying degrading behavior.

2.What is attainable through knowing Allah and knowing His greatness as well as His closeness to His servants.His overseeing them, and His knowledge of what deceives the eyes while being hidden in the chests.

Shyness from Allah may be caused by witnessing and reflecting over His blessings and the shortcomings associated with being thankful for them.

The praiseworthy shyness is the behavior that encourages the performing of commendable actions and abandoning the wretched.

Concerning the statement : " If you do not feel shy then do as you wish ." One meaning is that it does not command to do whatever you wish, but it conveys a meaning of blame and prohibition. One way of interpreting it is that it conveys a threat/warning. The second way to interpret it is that it is a way of conveying information. The thing that prohibits a person from doing bad actions is shyness.

An-Nawawee said , The Scholars said that the reality of shyness is the character that encourages the abandonment of despicable actions and prevents against negligence concerning the rights of the people who possess rights over others.

Aboo Al Qaasim al Junayd said Shyness is recognizing Allahs favors, meaning His blessings and the recognizing of ones own negligence in light of them both.

When shyness is lost, every type of evil is committed.

There are five signs of wretchedness :

1. The harshness in the hearts
2. The unflinching eye
3. The lack of shyness
4. The seeking of worldy pleasures.
5. Longevity in life

An example of shyness is Asmaa bint Aboo Bakr in the hadeeth where she carried the date stones and was offered to ride behind the Prophet sallallahu alayhe was salaam but was too shy.

Source: My Advice to the Women - Umm Abdillah al-Waadi'iyyah - pgs 253-259

Worrying about Death.....Concerned About Life

2012-03-18T07:36:00.000-07:00

Those who know the supplication prayed in Salatul Janazah , the prayer funeral, must have noticed these words that the supplication begins with..Allahummagfirli hayyina wa mayyitinaa.....Did you note the first phrase of the supplication? It begins with a prayer for those who are alive !!!!!O Allah forgive those of us who are living and our dead..The title of the salat ( prayer ) is ? Salatul Janzah, the prayer for the dead. But it begins with ? O Allah forgive those of us who are living.

The same salatul Janzah begins with Surah al Fatiha and in the entire surah Fatiha the supplication is for the person who is alive.There is no mentioning about the dead !!! It is about guidance.. Ever wondered why when praying for dead we are praying for our selves first?

Every man is reponsible for himself.. Note this Qur'anic verse .. Ya ayyuhal ladhina amanoo, koo anfusakum...O You who believe ! Save yourselves ......Then comes the next command.. and your family....but first? .. Your self...Right?

When we die ,people will not even call us by our name.. rather they will say : when is the mayyat being taken ? They will not ldentify you by your name.. but? Mayyat.. so Nisaar Nadiadwala when alive , he is called Nisaar bhai or Brother Nisaar but the moment he is dead , the dead Nisaar Nadiadwala is now Mayyat.

When you leave the world the people left behind will ask " what has he left behind ? " but when you go up, you will be asked , "What have you brought along ?!!!!"

Life is only one chance.. but most of our life is passed away chasing careers and collecting wealth which we leave behind but dont forget that the accounts of this wealth is also carried along with us. That is why the Qur'an reminds us : Let every soul look for what he has sent for the morrow....Surah al Hashr ch 59 verse 18

So what have I and you sent ahead for morrow? Slanders ? Back biting ? Insults of people? Check your account before Allah calls you for the account....If you are really worried about your death then be concerned about your life.. Live it properly.

Author : Nisaar Nadiadwala can be reached at nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com

The Chapati that took him to Paradise

2012-03-17T10:15:00.004-07:00

Ibn Masud r.a. narrated this incident : A man from Bani Israel was a worshipper of Allah and he worhsipped Him till he reached 60 years of age. One day a beautiful young girl came to stay in his neighbourhood. The man fell in her love and it was an affair. For six days the man enjoyed illict relation with the girl. Then he realised that it was a big sin that he committed. So he rushed tot he Masjid and wept. He repented for a few days and remained hungry as well. Some one saw him and gave him two chapatis to eat. He kept it aside and saw two hungy men around him. So instead of eating himself , he gave away the chapatis to the two men. Few hours later he died.

Allah commanded his 60 years of worship to be weighed against the 6 days of sins. The sins were heavier than his worship. It was a dangerous situation. Then Allah The Most Merciful commanded that his sins be weighed agaisnt those two chapatis. The chapatis proved heavier. He was pardoned.

Sahih Targeeb wa Tarheeb Shaikh Albani classified as Moukuf Sahih ( Proved authentic as coming from the companion of the Messenger of Allah peace be upon him )

Dont take any wrong lessons from this story. It never means that charity is better than worship so exempt your self from worship and just give charity. It is a wrong understanding. The correct lessons go as under :

1. Even if you are regular in worship for decades yet you are under the chance of being decieved by Shaitan

2. Do not think that since you are a regular worshipper so you can get away with certain sins. In upper case we saw that the sins proved to be heavier.

3. If you commit a sin and realise that you were wrong repent, sincerly. It is the intensity of your repentance that determines how you will rewarded.

And those who do something to be ashamed of or wrong their own selves, earnestly bring Allah to mind and ask for forgiveness for their sins - And who can forgive sins except Allah...Surah Imran verse 135

4. If you commit sin try to repel them with good deeds as expiations

....Unless he Who repents and believes and does good deeds, Allah wil change the evil of the person into good..Surah Furqan verse 70

5. Your good deeds for a long time can also remind you of your sins and can lead you to repenet sincerly so keep worshipping Allah regularly and punctually.

6. Many a time a good deed done out of great intensity of heart, supressing your own need and helping others, can lead you to a Majestic Pardon from Allah

Author : Nisaar Nadiadwala speaks and writes on Islam and Muslims. He can be reached at nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com

Careers in Da'wah.. A Just Estimate...

2012-03-16T06:48:00.003-07:00

A young Muslim youth was complaining to me " Nisaar Sir ! Ever since I have taken up da'wah as a career i have been going through many hardships." I explained to him , Read the second verse of Surah al ankabut... Do man think that they will be left alone on saying ," We believe " and not be tested?"..

Many budding da'ees understand the term CAREER as somethign that brings a constant flow of money and a reckoning in the society and luxurious travel. Corporate wise it may be true but Da'wah wise it is not.

Many Muslim youth are taking up full time Daw'ah as career. Some have left up lucrative professions to serve deen. I personally know some of them who were in call centers and earned good but when they got that Islamic spririt charged up they left the call centers because many of them were having banks as costumers. A large number of daee's who are also come from middle class. Girls who desire to marry only da'ees should note this. Although da'wah is coming up as the best option in parallel career building yet there is no financial dreams attached to it.. nor any one should attach to it a dream which wil make them rich and famous through Da'wah.

Da'wah is to stand up for Islam, speak for Islam, invite people to Islam while doing an earnest struggle against evil and nobody gets paid up for that ( unless one is associated with a dawah center that is rich with funds due other responsilblites attached along with Da'wah ).

Imam Shafai, Imam Ahmed bin Hambal and other stalwarts of Dawah and Knowlege of Religion had to struggle. There were times when Imam Shafai and Imam Ahmed bin Hambal had to go through a streched hunger for days with only piece of dates to fill their stomach. Ibn Abbas r.a. had to travel hundreds of miles only to cross check a few hadith. Musab bin Umar r.a. was appointed as a da'ee to visit Madina and do some grass root level work in the mind and the hearts of Madinites.

Imam Shafai was not only a student of deen but also a swimmer and an archer of par excellence. He used to shoot ten out of ten targets accurately in archery. Long and tiery travels to learn Knowledge, shortage of money, labouring hard while organising programs are normal routine of a da'ees life. Those who are desiring to be a full time Daee and those girls who want to marry a da'ee should remember that Da'wah is not a luxurious career....

Author : Nisaar Nadiadwala can be reached at nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com

Akhlaaq : Weigh it Today Before Allah Weighs it on That Day

2012-03-12T06:58:00.000-07:00

Among the heaviest deed in the weigh on the Day of Qiyamah will be Good Akhlaaq says the Sahih Hadith of Tirmdhi. You can understand Good Akhlaaq as character, nature, capacity to tolerate people's weakness and respond it soberly or gently, cheerful appearance inspite of hardships, generosity and every other thing that plays a part in making you loved or respectfully acknowledged by your near and dear ones and your enemies as well.

Many people have not got a complete understanding of Akhlaaq that is why many of us harbour a continuous complain against others that " My akhlaaq is good but people dont acknolwedge my contribution "

Among the actions that reflects our akhlaaq are how we react towards those people with whom we dont agree or have some grudges against them. Among the biggest harms that movies, sports stars and other idols have done to our society is that they have taught us to focus too much on looks, and style and cultivated rude speaking habits and arrogant display of status. While maintaining the run after looks and style we leave behind the essence of strong and caring human relations. People think that if they are popular it means that their akhlaaq is good..it is not always so..Let us ponder over a few Qur'anic commands on how to improve our akhlaaq..

1. Tell my worshippers that they should speak only that which is best, because shaytan tries to sow dessention among them...Surah Isra ch.17, verse 53

2. And lower your voice, because, the harshest voice is the braying of a donkey...Surah Lukman ch 31, verse 19

3. Let them forgive and overlook ( people's faults ) Do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? Surah Nur: 22

3. O you who believe ! Do not nullify your charity by reminders of your generosity or by injury.. Surah Bakarah :264

4. O you who believe avoid suspicion as much.. for suspicion in many cases may be sin.. Surah al Hujarat :12

Remember, akhlaaq cannot be displayed artificially. So the biggest test is : whether one of your parents or both reach old age DO NOT SAY EVEN UFF TO THEM Surah Isra ch 17 , verse 23

So dont be under the illusion of posessing a good akhlaaq rather keep a constant watch on it for wearing an unstained white shirt is one thing and protecting it from stains and dirt is another...

Author : Nisaar Nadiadwala speaks and writes on Islam and Muslims. He can be reached at nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com

Character Speaks Louder than Actions

2012-03-11T05:20:00.000-07:00

Once Umar bin Al Khattab r.a. , during his khilafa , gave a bag of money to a man and said to him , "Go and give it to Abu Obaida bin Jarra, and wait under an excuse to see what he does with the wealth." The man went and handed over the sack of money to Abu Obaida r.a. and waited there under the pretex of some excuse to see what happens to the money. He saw that Abu Obaida divided those coins into small bags and called upon his servants and said " give this bag to so and so widow, and this bag to so and so needy and that bag to so and so orphan.. and he did it till all the money was over. Then the man returned and reported to Umar r.a.. He thanked Allah.

Then Umar r.a. gave another sack of money to the man and asked him to go and give it to Muadh bin Jabal r.a. and instructed him to wait under some pretex of excuse and see what happens to the wealth. The man did as instructed. He saw the same repitition. Muadh r.a to divided the sack into small bags and distributed the wealth too the poor and the needy but there was a coin left in his sack. He heard his wife requesting, " Listen we too are poor arent we? " Upon hearing that Muadh picked up the last coin and threw it inside saying " Take this coin if you dont have money...

Once Umar bin al Khattab r.a. announced, "O people wish what you want to wish " One of the person responded," I wish i had lot of gold which I would spend it in the cause of Allah. " Umar was not sati9sfied. He asked again, " O people! wish what you desire " One of the person said < I wish I had a lot of gold and silver which I would spend in the way of Allah..." Umar r.a. was not satisfied. He kept on asking and the people replied something similar. Then he said , "I wish I had more people like Abu Uabida bin Al Jarrah, Muadh bin Jabal and Salim ibn Moula r.a.a. then I would flood the world with Islam...because their character speaks. BECAUSE THEIR CHARACTER SPEAKS...

See the Character of Prophet Muhammed peace be upon him. On one hand he generously distributed flocks of ship, slaves and wealth to the poor and the needy but refused to give to his own daughter Fatima when she came to ask !

Zainul Abedeen, the son of Hussain bin Ali r.a.a distributed a lot of wealth secretly at night. It used to be huge amount. Only when he died and the act stopped, did people realised who it was who put money in their homes during the night. The people who gave him burial wash shaw marks of sack on his back reflecting how hard he worked to help people.

There was a blind woman who was alone. Abu Bakr and Umar bin al Khattab, Allah be please with both, use to race with each other in serving her, and this continued even during their khilafa. These two noble men did not send their servants to serve the old woman rather they did the job. They cleaned her house, fill the water pot, cooked food for her....

Indeed, giving priority to others over one's own need is a part of good character, and character speaks louder than actions...

Author : Nisaar Nadiadwala speaks and writes on Islam and Muslims. He can be reached a t nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com

The Business of Marriage....

2012-03-05T00:33:00.000-08:00

The Hindustan Times Weekly Magazine had an interesting cover story on THE NEW BUSINESS OF MARRIAGE .( October 30, 2011) The report says that those Marriage brokers who have a list of rich boys or beautiful girls preferably richer too, earn million of Rupees a year to fix up a wedding. let me serve some of their findings..but remember most of these findings are related to Non Muslim communities of India but serves a reflection of Muslims soceity too in many places, countries and cities.

1.The average age for both men and women is 26 -28.... (if you or your son or your sister or brother fall in this category then it is not healthy for the society, because we know that many unIslamic soceity dont mind illict affairs so these youth have a way to satisfy their natural need, but in a Muslim soceity it is not allowed.. so what options do our youth have? Neither they are married nor would they go for affair...)

2. On average there are more women " in the market" than men !!!!!

In the 30 - 36 age group, there are 15 women to one man

In the 26 - 30 age group, there are 7 women to one man

3. For men, the most important is looks, the second is a rich girl. For the women, the single most important criterion for eligiblity is wealth or salary, the second is education. For the parents of both men and women the most important criteria is wealth !!!!!

4. The registration fee by marraige brokerage firms that caters to the rich class ( read... that sells the biodata and portfolios of rich and good loking girls and boys) is between 300 US$ to 600 US$. Once the deal is clicked the completion fees ranges from 2000 US $ to 6000 US $. Some brokers of elite class charge a percentage of total expense of the wedding.

5. One broker shared the craze he came across.... I asked a family who came looking for a match for their son, " what type of girl you are looking for ?" They replied, " We want a BRANDED GIRL " ( A daughter of a rich and famous family is called a branded bride)

This reminds me a painful incident I came accross. I vizited a Muslim matrimonial brokerage firm and asked them how many appplications do you get every year ? He replied, " We recieve around a 100 applications of girls a year " And how many you manage to get married out of those 100 ? I aksed. He replied.. Only 2 or 3 !!!! Remember ,this firm catered to middle class families.

Indeed marriage has turned into an industry, and it is sad to note that even Muslim marriages are turning into expensive events catering to decoraters, big halls, caterers, beauty parlours, dress designers.....Note this Qur'anic verse from Surah Nahl ch 16 verse 72..Allah has created from you mates from your own nature and from your mates He has created for you children and grand children and provided of you good rizq ( sustenance).. Will you then beleive in vain things and be ungrateful to Allah's favour ?.... Dont forget to note that in this verse Allah calls weddings as His blessings..will you delay or deny it by making it complicated?

AUTHOR : Nisaar Nadiadwala speaks and writes on Islam and Muslims. He can be reached at nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com

Fall in Love with the Real Thing

2012-03-03T10:52:00.001-08:00

It’s never easy to let go. Or is it? Most of us would agree that there are few things harder than letting go of what we love. And yet, sometimes that’s exactly what we have to do. Sometimes we love things that we can’t have. Sometimes we want things that are not good for us. And sometimes we love what Allah does not love. To let go of these things is hard. Giving up something the heart adores is one of the hardest battles we ever have to fight.

But what if it didn’t have to be such a battle? What if it didn’t have to be so hard? Could there ever be an easy way to let go of an attachment? Yes. There is.

Find something better.

They say you don’t get over someone until you find someone or something better. As humans, we don’t deal well with emptiness. Any empty space must be filled. Immediately. The pain of emptiness is too strong. It compels the victim to fill that place. A single moment with an empty spot causes excruciating pain. That’s why we run from distraction to distraction, and from attachment to attachment.

In the quest to free the heart, we speak a lot about breaking our false dependencies. But then there’s always the question of ‘how?’ Once a false attachment has been developed, how do we break free? Often it feels too hard. We get addicted to things, and can’t seem to let them go. Even when they hurt us. Even when they damage our lives and our bond with God. Even when they are so unhealthy for us. We just can’t let them go. We are too dependent on them. We love them too much and in the wrong way. They fill something inside of us that we think we need…that we think we can’t live without. And so, even when we struggle to give them up, we often abandon the struggle because it’s too hard.

Why does that happen? Why do we have so much trouble sacrificing what we love for what God loves? Why can’t we just let go of things? I think we struggle so much with letting go of what we love, because we haven’t found something we love more to replace it.

When a child falls in love with a toy car, he becomes consumed with that love. But what if he can’t have the car? What if he has to walk by the store every day, and see the toy he can’t have? Every time he walks by, he would feel pain. And he may even struggle not to steal it. Yet, what if the child looks past the store window and sees a Real car? What if he sees the Real Ferrari? Would he still struggle with his desire for the toy? Would he still have to fight the urge to steal it? Or would he be able to walk right past the toy—the disparity in greatness annihilating the struggle?

We want love. We want money. We want status. We want this life. And like that child, we too become consumed with these loves. So when we can’t have those things, we are that child in a store, struggling not to steal them. We are struggling not to commit haram for the sake of what we love. We are struggling to let go of the haram relationships, business dealings, actions, dress. We are struggling to let go of the love of this life. We are the stumbling servant struggling to let go of the toy…because it’s all we see.

This whole life and everything in it is like that toy car. We can’t let go of it because we haven’t found something greater. We don’t see the Real thing. The Real version. The Real model.

Allah (swt) says,
“What is the life of this world but amusement and play? But verily the Home in the Hereafter,- that is life indeed, if they but knew.” (29:64)

When describing this life, Allah uses the Arabic word for ‘life’: الْحَيَاةُ. But, when describing the next life, Allah here uses the highly exaggerated term for life, الْحَيَوَانُ. The next life is the Real life. The Realer life. The Real version. And then Allah ends the ayah by saying “If they but knew”. If we could see the Real thing, we could get over our deep love for the lesser, fake model.

In another ayah, God says:
“But you prefer the worldly life, while the Hereafter is better and more enduring.” (87:16-17)

The Real version is better in quality (خَيْرٌ) and better in quantity (أَبْقَىٰ). No matter how great what we love in this life is, it will always have some deficiency, in both quality (imperfections) and quantity (temporary).
This is not to say that we cannot have or even love things of this life. As believers we are told to ask for good in this life and the next. But it is like the toy car and the real car. While we could have or even enjoy the toy car, we realize the difference. We understand fully that there is a lesser model (dunya: coming from the root word ‘daniya’, meaning ‘lower’) and there is the Real model (hereafter).

But how does that realization help us in this life? It helps because it makes the ‘struggle’ to follow the halal, and refrain from the haram easier. The more we can see the Real thing, the easier it becomes to give up the ‘unreal’—when necessary. That does not mean we have to give up the ‘unreal’ completely, or all the time. Rather it makes our relationship with the lesser model (dunya) one in which if and when we are asked to give something up for the sake of what is Real, it is no longer difficult. If we are asked to refrain from a prohibition that we want, it becomes easier. If we are asked to be firm in a commandment that we don’t want, it becomes easier. We become the matured child who likes to have the toy, but if ever asked to choose between the toy and the Real thing, see a ‘no-brainer’. For example, many of the Prophet’s (pbuh) companions had wealth. But when the time came, they could easily give half or all of it for Allah’s sake.

This focus also transforms what we petition for help or approval. If we’re in desperate need of something, we will appeal to the servant—only when we don’t see or know the King. But if we’re on our way to meet that King and we run into His servant, we may greet the servant, be kind to the servant, even love the servant. But we will not waste time trying to impress the servant, when there is a King to impress. We will never waste effort appealing to the servant for our need, while the King is the One in control. Even if the King had given some authority to the servant, we’d know very well that the power to give and take rests ultimately with the King—and the King alone. This knowledge comes only from knowing and seeing the King. And this knowledge completely transforms how we interact with the servant.

Seeing the Real thing transforms the way we love. Ibn Taymiyyah (RA) discussed this concept when he said: “If your heart is enslaved by someone who is forbidden for him: One of the main causes for this miserable situation is turning away from Allah, for once the heart has tasted worship of Allah and sincerity towards Him, nothing will be sweeter to it than that, nothing will be more delightful or more precious. No one leaves his beloved except for another one he loves more, or for fear of something else. The heart will give up corrupt love in favor of true love, or for fear of harm.”

One of our greatest problems as an ummah is as the Prophet (pbuh) told us in a hadith: wahn (love of dunya and hatred of death). We’ve fallen in love with dunya. And anytime you are in love, it becomes next to impossible to get over that love or separate from it—until you are able to fall in love with something greater. It is next to impossible to dislodge this destructive love of dunya from our hearts, until we find something greater to replace it. Having found a greater love, it becomes easy to get over another one. When the love of God, His messenger (pbuh) and the Home with Him is really seen, it overpowers and dominates any other love in the heart. The more that love is seen, the more dominate it becomes. And thereby the easier it will be to really actualize the statement of Ibraheem (AS):
“Say, ‘Indeed, my prayer, my service of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the worlds.’” (6:162)

So in letting go, the answer lies in love. Fall in love. Fall in love with something greater. Fall in love with the Real thing. See the Mansion.

Only then, will we stop playing in the dollhouse.

________________________________________
Source : yasminmogahed.com “ Fall in love with the real thing” by Yasmin Mogahed .

Crush.. Infatuation..Buds and seeds of Fornications

2012-03-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

A few months back an Islamic website quizzed its readers, specially females " Did you ever had a crush on your Shaikh?" There were 700 plus ladies who had answered and a large number of them admitted that some times and some where they felt the pinch of it. How far these types of surveys allowed to be taken in an Islamic society is an issue for the Scholars.

Crush means to have a rosy feeling for somebody of opposite sex you admire. It may be because you like his or her style or skills or any good thing he or she posseses. Infatuation is a synonym for crush. Young boys and girls have this sting of crush and infatuation towards their class mates and school mates and in neighbourhood as well.

Teachers and pyschologists say that it is natural to happen. Many movie writers and novelists have exploited this temptation and written stories around it thus upgrading the initial stages of temptation towards bold approaches with phrases like " Whats wrong in it ?"

Crush and Infatuation are forms of satanic whispers that appear soft and tickling to one's heart. Islamically you can say that it is an early stage of fornication. Buds of Fornication that grow into thorns rather than flowers because most of these crushes and infatuations ends in heart breaks. This leads to a replacement with a hunt for a better one. one bead ties to another and the person becomes immodest and remains such. Affairs via interent and face book and sms on mobiles are common route to devilish boldness.

A few reasons why teens dont consider crushes and infatuations as early signs of fornication and Fahishaa :

1. Because nobody tells them that it is bad, rather elders boast before them about their own crushes in their school days.

2. Because very body arond them are into it. Every one seems to have crushes on movie heroes, sportsmen and women, good looking famous personalities.....

3. it is circulated in a very alluring manner

4. Nobody shares their agony or mental trauma that they had undergone during this phase, thus letting the crushes be as rosy as it appears.

Dont forget that every huge tree begins with a small seed or sapling and then it roots reaches far off under the ground making it to strong to be uprooted. Its roots suck up water from the earth underground to keep itself healthy and strong. Crushes and Infatuations are seeds of fornications and adultery. If you water them with rozy fantasies, day dreams, gift cards.... then you are raising up a huge tree with its roots so deep and far that it will suck up your religous spirits and sentiments too .....

The right hadith that comes to my mind : There is a lump of flesh in every body, if it is good then all the actions are good and if it is sick then all the actions are sick ( devilish ).. and indeed that lump of flesh is HEART..

AUTHOR : Nisaar Nadiadwala speaks and writes on Islam and Muslims. He canbe reached at nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com

A Marriage Denied is.....A Modesty Denied and Obscenity Approved....

2012-03-01T07:47:00.002-08:00

One of the most hurting plight I see regularly in trains, buses, malls, parks and beaches of Mumbai is, 'many face veiled Muslim girls roaming with boyfriends'. And this number is not a small one. It is surging up so high that it is evident, even in the dark corners of Mumbai lanes. I am sure it is the same in Pakistani schools and colleges too.

Among the most rotten things that the Muslims have picked up from the dust bin of the western civilisation is the concept of "delayed marriages". Delayed marraiges are one of the catalysts that has speeded up immodesty in the west, hidden immodesty as well as open immodesty. Looks at the study below that testifies my claim.

And according to one Virginia study, 24% of college women will become pregnant at some point during their college careers.....Some 27% of all pregnancies among 15- to 19-year-olds ended in abortion, and 59% resulted in live births. The remaining 14% ended in miscarriage.......Some 46% of all teens, ages 15-19, in the United States have had sex. That's the average. Breakout data ranges from 13% of 15-year-olds to 70% of 19-year-olds. (Jackie Burrell, About.com Guide)

Alan Guttmacher Institute reports that 80 percent of Americans teens have had sex at least once by the time they reach their twentieth birthday.

The question arises is : If girls and boys are allowed by the law to have sex after a certain age then why are marriages disliked? The answer is simple. Nobody wants to spend on some one else's daughter's household, telephone, kitchen, clothes..." If you are getting fun free of responsiblities then why entertain social commitments?!!!!!"

Will Muslim fathers agree to let their daughter roam with boys hiding her identity behind a face veil, loitering on the beaches and sitting in the bushes in the corner of the parks and getting unwanted babies aborted in some unhygenic operation theatre? NO Muslim father would like to hear that such accidents are happening to his daughter but how many accept the fact that the threat lurks even at the veiled girls.

There are some dangerous things happening to the girls in the West who are in illict relationships :

1. Although teenagers tend to have sexual relationships with only one partner during any given time, their number of sexual partners adds up over time; almost 25 percent report having sex with four or more partners by 12th grade.

Do you want your daughters to be one of those unfortunates who are exploited by not one but four or more boys ? Ofcourse NO!

2. Each year one-quarter of the estimated 12 million new cases of STDs, other than HIV, in the U.S. occur among teenagers. Adolescents 15 to 19 years old have some of the highest reported rates of gonorrhea and chlamydia among sexually active people and most of them are girls...

( http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/respect/hiv_fs.htm )

Young men are flocking to the Majsids at the call of adhan and young women are crowding hijab shops. Islamic seminars collect more crowds than many educational seminars even in busy cities. Arabic classes, Qur'anic classes and fiqh related websites are hosting to satisfy the knowledge hungy youth. One more sunnah needs to be revived.. Break the barriers that delays marraiges.

This is the most indecent age that humanity has ever experienced. When affairs are announced proudly and joyfully and celebrated everywhere around us ,dont let the youth live a secretly sexually frustrated life when he is missiled and bombarded with alluring and tempting Movies, Serials , Bill boards, stories of affairs and romance.... making them bolder to commit sins. There is no better option than marrying your children at the right age. And what is the right age? Ask your own self instead of asking your sons or daughters.....

Author : Nisaar Nadiadwala speaks and writes on Islam and Muslims. He can be reached at nisaar_yusuf@yahoo.com

The Great Women behind Great Men (part 1 of 4): The Mother

2012-02-27T23:32:00.005-08:00

Mary (Mariam) the daughter of Imran and the mother of Jesus

Behind every great man stands a woman; behind every man stands a great woman; behind every successful man stands a woman. These are three different versions of an old saying, best remembered as a feminist slogan of the 1960s and 1970s. When you think about it however, it rings true. How do we respond when we hear about the man whose mother gave up everything to give him an education, the woman who worked 3 jobs to raise her children, and the woman who stands silently in the background as her husband rises to power as a statesman, businessman, politician, or educator? Men rise to soaring heights when the women in their lives nurture, support and encourage them to be the best men that they can be. Even the Prophet’s of God benefitted from the wise counsel of the women in their lives.

Today we start a series of articles about the great women who stood, not behind but at the side of the men in their lives. These great women, in their own individual ways, supported and encouraged men whose lives were fraught with danger and monumental change. Mothers, wives, daughters; the influence these women have over the men in their lives is remarkable. Islam calls these women the best of humankind.

‘The best women of humankind are four: Mariam, daughter of Imran, Assiya, the wife of Pharaoh, Khadija, daughter of Khuwailid, and Fatima the daughter of the Messenger of God [1].’

The key to success for any woman is to live life according to God’s guidance. As we know, this guidance is contained in and completed by the Quran and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad. Let us begin with mothers; Islam emphasises their significant role on numerous occasions. Prophet Muhammad says that paradise lies at the feet of mothers.[2] Prophet Jesus says, “...and He has made me blessed wheresoever I be, and has enjoined on me prayer, and alms, as long as I live, and dutiful to my mother, and made me not arrogant, unblest.” (Quran 19:30-32)

And when the angels said: ‘O Mary! Verily, God has chosen you, purified you,and chosen you above the women of the worlds of mankind and jinn.’ (Quran 3:42)

Prophet Muhammad’s son in law and close companion Ali, said, “I heard the Prophet of God saying Mary, the daughter of Imran was the best among women.”[3]

Maryam, the Arabic word for Mary, means maidservant of God. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was dedicated to God before she was born. Mary’s mother dedicated her child to the temple and by doing so she secured Mary’s freedom because she understood that true freedom was only attainable through complete submission to God.

Mary grew up having complete trust in God and her story can be found in Quran, particularly in chapters 3 and 19 named for Mary’s father and for Mary, respectively. In chapter 5 of Quran Mary is referred to as a siddiqa (truthful one) and the Arabic word siddiqa implies more than just speaking the truth. It indicates one who achieves a very high level of righteousness. It means that one is truthful, not only with themselves and those around them, but also with God. Mary was a woman who fulfilled her covenant with God, Whom she worshiped with full submission. She was pious, chaste, and devout; the woman chosen above all other women to be the mother of Jesus.

After the birth of Jesus, Mary faced incredible hardship. Even though she was a young woman of faith, character and self control, try to imagine the courage it took for her to return to her village with a babe in arms. She left the village a young woman not much older than a child but with a reputation for piety and righteousness. She returned as an unmarried mother of a new born babe. Imagine the talk, the gossip and accusations. When the townspeople surrounded and questioned her she followed God’s instructions and did not speak. Jesus himself, a baby cradled in Mary’s arms, spoke, declaring himself to be a prophet from God. (Quran 19:30)

Islam tells us very little about the life shared by Jesus and his mother Mary. Of course we can surmise that Mary was a woman of her time. With the exception of her education and possibly her ability to read, Mary would have lived and learned just like the other Jewish girls around her. She would have kept house, cooked, cleaned, sewed, walked to the well for water but above all she was an educator. It is easy to imagine Jesus sitting on her lap or at her feet listening to the stories of her people and their prayers. He would also have experienced at close hand Mary’s profound love and trust in God. How much of Mary’s character influenced Jesus as he grew up? A great deal, is the most probable answer.

As Jesus grew and began his mission, Mary must have behaved like any other mother. She probably swallowed her fears and encouraged her son to strive to please God. Mary would have sensed the danger of Jesus’ mission yet undoubtedly she held onto her total trust in God and conveyed her sense of contentment with God’s will to her son.

The mother’s role is both monumental and overwhelming. Not only does she go through both the joys and difficulties of pregnancy and giving birth, she dedicates her entire life to nurturing and caring for her children. It is her responsibility to raise and to educate them to be righteous and pious human beings. She cooks, cleans, nurtures and educates, she is also responsible for their spiritual, emotional and physical health and well-being. A mother’s role does not end when her child grows and begins a life of his or her own, it goes on and on and continues to influence her children and grandchildren.

In this day and age when the role of motherhood is being undermined at every turn, women should draw strength from great women such as Mary the mother of Jesus.

Footnotes:

[1] Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim

[2] Ahmad, An Nasai

[3] Saheeh Al-Bukhari

Purify Your Gaze

2011-03-09T21:21:00.001-08:00

I just came across an amazing Muslim effort to address sexual addiction in the Muslim community. I hope you can all show support to this organization that is taking a big step forward in addressing an important issue in our community. Check it out and watch the free videos at: www.PurifyYourGaze.com

MIRACLE OF THE QURAN -- BY GARY MILLER

2011-03-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

MIRACLE OF THE QURAN -- BY GARY MILLER

About Gary Miller, the author
Gary Miller (Abdul-Ahad Omar) shows how we can establish true faithby setting standards of truth. He illustrates a simple but effective method of finding out the right direction in our search for truth.

G.R.. Miller is a mathematician and a theologian. He was active inChristian missionary work at a particular point of his life but he soonbegan to discover many inconsistencies in the Bible. In 1978, hehappened to read the Qur'an expecting that it, too, would contain amixture of truth and falsehood.

He discovered to his amazement that the message of the Qur'an was precisely the same as the essence of truth that he had distilled from the Bible. He became a Muslim and since then has been active in giving public presentations on Islam including radio and television appearances. He is also the author of several articles and publications about Islam.

Dilemma of Applying Reason

Almost all of us have been faced with the questioning of a child by repeating one word over and over. He can be very frustrating to us as he asks, "WHY?" If you put a knife beyond his reach, he wants to know "WHY?" When you explain it is sharp, he asks "WHY?" And so you explain, "in order to cut fruit," and he asks, "WHY?" And so it goes.

It illustrates the dilemma of applying reason. What we have to do when we apply reason is first set standards of proof. We decide for ourselves, "What will I be satisfied with if I find such and such and so and so that constitutes for me a final proof?" We have to decide on that first.
What happens though, is that on the really important issues, the philosophical matters, thinkers set standards of proof and they take a look at their subjects and eventually they may arrive at their standards. They may arrive at the point which say would constitute a proof. But then they ask for a proof of the proof.

Setting Standards

The key to avoiding this endless dissatisfaction is to satisfy ourselves about the standards first; to satisfy ourselves that such and such are a list of criteria that constitute proof, satisfying proof, and then we test the subjects that we examine. In particular I will apply this to the Qur'an.
Ask a thoughtful Christian why he is a Christian, and he will usually reply, "The miracle of the Resurrection." The basis for his belief being that about two thousand years ago a man died and he was raised from the dead. That is his miracle, his 'touchstone', because all else depends on that.
Ask a Muslim, "Well, what is your miracle? Why are you a Muslim? What is your miracle? Why are you a Muslim? Where is your miracle?" and the Muslim can go over and take his miracle off the shelf and hand it to you because his miracle is still with us today. It is the Qur'an; it is his 'touchstone'.

Sign of God

While all the Prophets have their signs, Moses had the competition with the magicians and the Pharaoh, Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead and so on, one Sign was given to the last of the prophets. According to the Muslims, this is the Qur'an. And this one Sign is still with us. Does not that after all seem fair, that if prophethood is to end that the last prophet should bring something that stays with us so that, in fact, a Muslim who takes his religion seriously suffers no disadvantage to Muslims who lived fourteen centuries ago?

Those people who kept company with the Prophet had access to no more of the necessary information than we have today. They had the Qur'an. That was the sign for them. It is still a sign to us today, the same miracle.
Well, let us test the Qur'an. Suppose that if I say to a man, "I know your father." Probably he is going to examine the situation and see if it seems likely that I have met his father. If he is not convinced, he will start asking me questions like: "You know my father, you say, is he a tall man? Does he have curly hair? Does he wear glasses?," and so on. If I keep giving him the right answers to all these questions, pretty soon he is going to be convinced. "Well, I guess this man did meet my father like he said." You see the method.

The Big Bang Theory

Verses in the Qur'an claim that the author of Qur'an was present when the universe first appeared, when life first began billions of years ago.

We have a right to question this claim. We ask the author, "Well tell us something to prove to us that YOU were there when they world began, life began."
In reply to our challenge, the Qur'an contains a dumbfounding statement. It reads, "Have not the disbelievers seen that the Heavens and the Earth were one piece and we parted them? And We made every living thing from water. Will they not then believe?" (21:30)
(in the Qur'an, 'We' is used not to show plurality, that several Gods exist but rather as a sign of respect)
There are 3 key points in (21:30). First of all, it is the disbelievers who are mentioned as being those who would discover that the heavens and the earth were one piece and then parted and it is the DISBELIEVERS (non-Muslims) who will DISCOVER that all life came to be made from water.
Coincidentally, the universally accepted theory of 'the origin of the universe' is now the BIG BANG THEORY. It maintains that at one time ALL OF HEAVENS AND THE EARTH were one piece, the 'monoblock' as it is called. At a particular point in time, this 'monoblock' burst and it continues to expand. This is the origin of the universe we have today.
This is a recent confirmation.
The Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded only a few years ago to those who confirmed the Big Bang Theory origin of the universe. It was only 200 years ago that Leeuwenhoek and others perfected the microscope and discovered for the first time that living cells are composed of 80% water.
The above information which was scientifically confirmed only in the last 2 centuries, can be found in the Qur'an which originated 14 centuries ago! Could it then have been written by an ordinary man or can it only be the work of God?
The verse above, (21:30) states that disbelievers will scientifically prove the Big Bang Theory and that living cells are made of water -- Those Nobel Prize winners and the Dutchman who invented the microscope were not muslims. And yet they confirmed the vital statement that at one time, the universe was one piece, that life was made from water, just as verse says,
"Have not the disbelievers seen that the Heavens and the Earth were one piece and we parted them? And We made every living thing from water. Will they not then believe?" (21:30)
Does this not prove that the author of the Qur'an, has indeed met the challenge, "Was He there when the universe began, when life began."

Taking a Stand

Everyone must be committed to something. You have to put your foot down some place. It is impossible to be neutral at all times. There has been a point of reference in the life of any thinking individual. You have to take a stand somewhere. The question, of course, is to put your foot down in the right place. Since there is no such thing as a proof of a proof and so on, in order to find the right place to put one's foot down, to take a stand, we have to search and find that place and it is by a method that I hope to illustrate here.

It is a question of finding a point of convergence. You see, we search for truth in many places and we begin to know that we are succeeding in finding the truth if all our different paths start to converge; they start to come together at the same point.
If we are examining a book, looking for evidence of divine origin, and we are led to Islam, this is one path. If at the same time, we examining the words of all those who were called prophets and we find ourselves led to Islam, we have a firmly grounded basis for belief. We started looking for truth in two different places and found ourselves going down the path headed for the same destination.
No one ever proves all things. We have to stop at some point being satisfied with our standards as I have mentioned earlier. The point is, in order to take a stand and to be sure it is in the right place, we want to examine all the evidence around us and see where does it lead us and anticipate this point of convergence; to say it looks like all things are pointing to this place. We go to that place and then look at the data around us to see if it fits into place. Does it now make sense? Are we standing in the right place?

The Expanding Heavens

Let me first show more of our examination of the Qur'an, and then an examination of some words of prophets to find this point of convergence. In Chapter 51, verse 47, it is mentioned that the heavens are expanding. As I mentioned earlier, this is in connection with the 'Big Bang' origin of the universe, as it is usually called, and it was in 1973 that the Nobel prize was awarded to three men who were confirming that, after all, the universe is expanding.
The comments of Muslims over the centuries on this verse which speaks of the heavens doing exactly that is very interesting. The wisest among them stated that the words are very clear, that the heavens are expanding, but they could not imagine how that could be so. But they were content to leave the words as they were, to say: "Allah knows best."

The City of Iram

The Qur'an mentions a city by the name of Iram (89:7). The city of Iram has been unknown to History, so unknown that even Muslim commentators, out of embarrassment or feeling apologetic for their religion, have commented on this mention of the city in the Qur'an as being perhaps figurative, that Iram was possibly a man and not a city.

In 1973, the excavation in Syria at the site of the ancient city of Eblus uncovered the largest collection of cuneiform writings on clay tablets ever assembled. In fact, the library discovered in Eblus contains more clay tablets that are more than four thousand years old than all the other tablets combined from all other sites.
Interestingly enough, you will find the details in the National Geographic of 1978 which confirms that in those tablets the city of Iram is mentioned. The people of Eblus used to do business with the people of Iram. So here in 1973, comes confirmation of the fact that, after all, there really was an ancient city by that name, wherever it was. How did it find its way into the Qur'an, we might ask?
Those Muslims who may have offered their comments, trying to explain away this reference that they were uncomfortable with, were outsmarted by the author of the Qur'an. They were those who would attempt to outsmart the author of the Qur'an. Primarily, their activity would involve trying to produce the evidence that the author of this book had a primitive understanding of the world around us.

The Smallest Matter

For example, there is a word which is translated today usually in Arabic as Zarrah. This is usually translated as 'atom' and it is usually thought of in Arabic as being the smallest item available at one time. Perhaps, the Arabs thought it was an ant or a grain of dust. Today, the word is usually translated as 'atom'.

Those who would outsmart the author of the Qur'an have insisted that, well, the atom is not after all the smallest piece of matter because in this century it has been discovered that even the atom is made of still smaller pieces of matter. Is it them possible to outsmart the author who chose to use this word? Well, there is an interesting verse, in chapter 10, verse 61, which speaks of items the size of a zarrah, (atom) or smaller. There is no possibility that on this subject someone is going to say a new discovery has outdated the words of the Qur'an on the issue of the size of matter or the ultimate particles. The verse talks about items the size of a zarrah (atom) or smaller. [hence, it IS written in the Qur'an that an atom IS NOT the smallest particle!

Forgiveness

Speaking of outsmarting the author of the Qur'an, the Islamic point of view is that when a man embraces Islam, his past is forgiven from the very beginning. This has been the invitation to Islam: come to Islam and all is forgiven from the past.
But consider this. There is only one enemy of Muhammad, peace be upon him, who is mentioned by name in the Qur'an: one Abu Lahab. In a short chapter of this book, he is condemned to punishment for his sins.
As it happens, the man himself was alive for many years after this revelation. He could therefore have finished Islam very easily. He needed only to go to the Muslims to announce his conversion. They had in their hands the revelation which said that this man is doomed to punishment. He could have gone to Muslims and say: "I accept Islam, am I forgiven or not?"
He could have confused them so much as to finish this small movement because he would have been pointing out to them that they were now in confusion. The policy was instant forgiveness of the past, but their own revealed scripture announced that he was not forgiven. As it was, Abu Lahab died without accepting Islam.

Predictions

In fact, the Qur'an confidently predicted a number of things only a few years before they came to pass. The fall of the Persian Empire, for example, was predicted in spite of the fact that it had just suffered a serious military reverse. The evidence was all to the contrary. But in the chapter entitled Rom, the fall of the Persian Empire who were recently victors over the Romans was predicted.

When all the Muslims in the world could meet in one room, the revelations were already discussing their future successes. In confidence, they were planning for the day when they would be in charge of the city where they were forced at that time to hide for their very lives.

Evidence of Divine Origin

Some people may like to find any number of things in the Qur'an. But an honest method in examining this book, looking for evidence of the Divine origin, is to take things at their value, to look for things that are clear and to look in those places where we are invited to look. Remember the passage that I quoted earlier: "Have not the disbelievers seen..." This a common phrase of the Qur'an: "O Man, Have you not seen." The invitation is to examine the evidence in these places. We are doing the sensible thing if we examine the words used to look for the doubted meaning and to find evidence of the Divine origin.

Each one of us is an expert on something. One does not have to have a degree in a particular subject to decide that now, "I can take my expertise to the Qur'an and see what I can find." We all now something for some from our own experience and life.
I heard a story, several years ago in Toronto, of man who was given the Qur'an to read. The man was a member of the merchant marines who spent his life on the sea. When he read a verse in the Qur'an describing the wave on the ocean, "waves within waves and the darkness between," he was surprised because the description was just what he knew the situation to be. When he returned the Qur'an to the man who gave it to him to read, he asked him (because he was completely ignorant of the origins of Islam): "This Muhammad, was he a sailor?" Well, of course, he was quite surprised to know that the man spent his life in the desert. So he had to ask himself: "From where did he get this knowledge of what looks like on a stormy sea?"
We all know something that we can be confident of and if we can turn to the Qur'an to read what it says about that subject, we are asking for confirmation of our belief in the Divine origin of the book.

The Two Phenomena

A friend of mine from the University of Toronto, had the experience of dealing with a man who was doing his doctorate in psychology. He chose as his subject: 'The Efficiency of Group Discussion'.

He suggested a number od criteria as to what constitutes an efficient discussion. He graphed the process; that is, he achieved a measure of efficiency of all groups in their discussions according to an index by his system. On his graph he indicated the progress made by the discussion groups of various sizes.
The interesting thing that happened which he did not expect to find when he began his project was that, while there were some differences between the size of any given group and how well they did in discussions, he was surprised to find that groups of two were completely off his scale! In other words, when people sit down to discuss something, they were so much more efficient than any other size of group that it went completely off his scale of measurement.
When my friend heard about this, something went on at the back of his mind. My friend, being a Muslim, thought there was something familiar here about this idea. The psychology researcher was not a Muslim. He was debating with himself on changing the topic of his thesis. Should he call it 'The Phenomenon of Two' or 'The Two Phenomena? He was SO surprised at his discovery.
Meanwhile, my friend found that there is a verse in the Qur'an, and he found it for himself on the same night, which speaks on discussions and the size of groups and how efficient they are. And maybe we should not be surprised to find that it is the groups that are two in numbers that do the best in achieving results. The main verse in the Qur'an reads, concerning discussion groups, that when discussing the Qur'an one should sit alone and reflect on its meaning or discuss it in groups of two.

Use and Mention of Words

For myself, as I said everyone knows something for sure or has an interest and experience in life; my interest is in mathematics and logic. There is a verse in the Qur'an which says:

"This a scripture whose verses are perfected and then expounded." (11:1)
Which tells me that there are no wasted words in the Qur'an; that each verse is perfected and then it is explained. It could not be in a better form. One could not use fewer words to say the same thing or if one uses more words one would only be adding superfluous information.
This directed my attention to a particular mathematical subject, a logical subject, and I examined the Qur'an to see if I could find something of what I knew to be the case.
A revolution in logic has occurred in the last one hundred years, primarily over the difference between use and mention of words. A structure of logic seemed to be in danger of collapsing about a hundred years ago because it came to the attention of the people who studied these matters that the structure was not quite sound. The issue involved 'self-reference' and the use and the mention of words which I will explain briefly.
Aristotle's law of the 'excluded middle' was the statement that every statement is either true false. About a hundred years ago, somebody pointed out that the law of the excluded middle is a statement and is therefore not a law after all. It could just as well be false as well as true.
This was a tangled knot for the logicians to untie until they came to understand the difference between the use and the mention of a word.
When we use a word, we consider its meaning. When we mention a word we are discussing the word itself. If I said Toronto is a large city, I mean Toronto, that place, is a large cit. If I say Toronto has seven letters, I am talking about the word 'Toronto'. In the first case I used the word and in the second I mentioned the word. You see distinction.

Jesus and Adam

Connecting these ideas and the idea that the Qur'an composed of verses that are perfected and then expounded for us, consider the verse which says:
"The likeness of Jesus before Allah is as the likeness of Adam." (3:59)
It is very clear that what we have in the statement is an equation. This verse goes on to explain how that is true because they both came under unusual circumstances rather than having a mother and a father in the usual human reproductive way. But more than that, I got to consider the use of the mention of words.
The words are used clearly enough. Jesus is like Adam and by Jesus and Adam, we mean those two men. But what about the mention of the words? Was the author aware of the fact that if we were considering the words as words themselves, this sentence also read that 'Jesus' is something like 'Adam'. Well, they are not spelt with the same letters, how can they be alike in this revelation? The only answer came to me fairly quickly and I took a look at the index of the Qur'an.
The index of the Qur'an has been made available only since 1945. This book was the result of years of work by a man and his students who assembled a book which lists every word in the Qur'an and where it can be found.
So, when we look up the word Isa (Jesus), we find it in the Qur'an twenty-five times. When we look up Adam, we find it in the Qur'an twenty-five times. The point is that they are very much alike in this book. They are equated. So, following up on this idea, I continued to examine the index looking for every case where something was set up as an equation, where the likeness of something was said to be the likeness of some other thing. And in every case, it works. You have to example a verse which reads:
"The likeness of this who reject our signs is as the likeness of the dog." (7:176)
Well, the phrase is Arabic for 'the people who reject our signs' could be found in the Qur'an exactly five times. And so is the Arabic word for 'the dog' (al-kalb). And there are several instances of exactly the same occurrence.
It was some months after I found this for myself that a friend of mine, who is continuing this investigation with me, made a suggestion that there are also some places in the Qur'an where one thing is said to be not like another thing.
As soon as he mentioned this up to me, we both went for the index and had a quick look at several places where on thing is said to be not like another thing and counted their occurrence in the Qur'an. We were surprise and maybe should not have been to find that, after all, they do not match up. But an interesting thing does happen. For example, the Qur'an makes it very clear in the verse that trade is not like interest. The two words will be found six times for on and seven for the other. And so it is in every other case.
When one thing is said to be not like another, they over for a difference of one time. It would be five of one and four of the other, or seven of one and eight of another.

Good and Evil

There is one interesting verse which, I felt, spoke directly to me from right off the page. It mentions two words in Arabic, al-khabeeth (the evil), and al-taib (the good). The verse reads:
"Say, the evil and the good are not comparable, even though the abundance of evil will surprise you. So be mindful of your duty to Allah, O Man of understanding, that you may succeed." (5:100)
When I had a look at those two words in Arabic, the evil and the good, and found it in the Qur'an that they both occur seven times. Yet the verse here is saying that they are not comparable. I should NOT expect to find that they occur the same number of times. BUT what does the rest of this verse say?
"The evil and the good are not comparable. The abundance of the evil will surprise you" - and it did for there were too many of them. But it continues...

"So be mindful of your duty to Allah, O Man of understanding, that you may succeed." - So press on. Use your understanding and you will succeed. This is what the verse said to me. Well, I found the answer on one verse further on...
"Allah separates the evil from the good. The evil He piles one on top of the other, heaping them all together." (8:37)
Here is the solution to the difficulty. While we have seven occurrences of al-khabeeth (the evil) which matches up with the occurrences of al-taib (the good), according to the principle of the verse, evil is separated from good and is piled one on top of the other and heaped altogether as one. Hence, we do not count them as 7 separate instances.

Occurrence of Words

A favourite difficulty, or supposed difficulty, which critics like to cite concerning the Qur'an is that - the author of this book was ignorant because he advised Muslims to follow the lunar new year instead of the solar year.
The critics say the author was unaware of the differences in the length of years, that if one follows the twelve lunar months, one loses eleven days every year. However, the author was well aware of the distinction between the length of the solar year and lunar year.
In Chapter 18, Verse 9:
It mentions 300 years and gives their equivalent as 309 years. As it happens, 300 SOLAR years is equal to 309 LUNAR years.
The arabic word for 'month', shahar will be found 12 times in the Qur'an. There are 12 months in a year. If we find twelve months, how many days should we expect to find? The word in arabic is yaum, and as it happens you will find that the word occurs 365 in the Qur'an.
The original issue which had me interested in looking up the occurrence of months and days was this distinction between solar year and the lunar year. Well, for 25 centuries, it has been known that the relative positions of the sun, moon and earth coincide every 19 years. This was discovered by a Greek by the name of Meton, and it is called the 'Metonic' cycle.
Knowing this, I looked again in the index of the word 'year', sanah and found, sure enough, that is occurs in the Qur'an 19 times.

Perfect balance of Words

Now, what is the point of this perfect balance of words? For myself, it shows the author was well aware of the distinction between using words and mentioning words, a fine logical point. But more than that, it indicates the preservation of this book.
After giving a lecture on the subject of the Qur'an , I touched on some of these subjects and a questionnaire from the audience afterwards said: "How do we know we still have the original Qur'an. Maybe pieces of it have been lost or extra parts been added?" I pointed out to him that we had pretty well covered that point because since these items, the perfect balance of words in the Qur'an, have come to light only in this generation, anybody who would have lost the portion of this book, hidden some of it, or added some of their own would have been unaware of this carefully hidden code in the book. They would have destroyed this perfect balance.
It is interesting to note too that, well, such a thing might be possible to organize today by the use of a computer to coordinate all words so that whatever thought you might have as to a meaning of a sentence or however you might construe an equation out of a sentence, you could check for yourself and the book will always have the balance of words.
If that were possible today, if it were possible fourteen centuries ago, why would it be done and then left hidden and never drawn to the attention of those who first saw this book? Why it would be left with the hope of the author who contrived this, that maybe in many centuries someone will discover it and have a nice surprise? It is a scheme that does not make sense.

Best Explanation

We are told in the Qur'an that no questionnaire will come to the Muslims with the question for which a good answer has not been provided, and the best explanation for whatever his question. This verse says:
"For everything they say we are given something to go back to them and reply." (25:33)
We looked again to the index of the Qur'an and we found the word, qalu (they say), is found three hundred and thirty-two times. Now, what would be the natural counterpart? The Arabic word, qul, which is the command 'say' and you will find at the index it also occurs three hundred and thirty-two times.

Origin of the Qur'an

An interesting feature of the Qur'an is that it replies to critics as to its origin. That is, no one has yet come up with suggestion as to where this book came from which is not commented on within the book itself.

In fact, the new Catholic Encyclopedia, under the heading Qur'an, mentions that over the centuries there has been many theories as to where this book came from. There conclusion: today, no sensible person believes any of these theories. This leaves the Christians in some difficulty. You see, all the theories suggested so far , according to this encyclopedia, are not really acceptable to anyone sensible today. They are too fantastic.
Where did the book come from? Those who have not really examined the Qur'an usually dismissed it as being, they say, a collection of proverbs or aphorisms, saying that one man used to announce from time to time. They imagined that there was a man who, from time to time during the day, will think of some witty little saying and spit it out and those around him will quickly write it down and eventually these were all collected and became the Qur'an.
Those who read the Qur'an will find that it is not anything like that at all. The collection of things said by the Prophet is the subject and the content of the Hadith. But the subjects and contents of the Qur'an are all in a form of a composition and explanation. I site as an example the chapter, Yusuf, which is an entire story in great detail about on e particular episode of one portion of the life of one man. It is a composition.
It is for this reason that virtually all those who have actually examined the Qur'an usually refer to it as being the product of the authorship as attributed to Muhammad and his 'co-adjudicators'. These were supposed to be people who would sit with him and composed the Qur'an. You see they imagined that the Qur'an was composed by a committee.
They acknowledged that there was too much information and it was too well composed for one man to have assembled. So, they imagined that a committee of men used to meet regularly, brought their various sources of information, composed something and then handed to this man and told him, "Go to the people tomorrow, this is your revelation." In other words, it was a fraud concocted by a group of people. But what do we know about fraud? The Qur'an reminds us as it says:
"Saw, now the truth has come, and falsehood neither invents anything nor restores anything." (34:49).
It is hard to translate it into English precisely, but what this verse is telling us is that falsehood is not the source of a new thing. A new and truthful thing cannot come from falsehood and falsehood does not restore, to our minds, the facts. Truth is in agreement with facts. Falsehood is something else. So falsehood is empty. If something is born fraud, it will never bring us new information. It will never endure; it will only collapse over a period of time.

Challenge

Another interesting verse is a challenge which is addressed to those non-believers. It reads:
"Have they not considered the Qur'an, if it came, other than Allah, surely they will find in it many inconsistencies." (4:82)
Here is a challenge to the reader. If you think you have an explanation where this book came from, have another look at the book. Surely you will be able to uncover some inconsistencies to support your case.
Imagine a student submitting a term paper or a final exam and then writing at the bottom of the page a not to his teacher: "You will find no mistakes in this paper. There are no mistakes on this exam." Can you imagine the teacher letting that rest? The teacher would probably not sleep until uncovering some inconsistency after a challenge like that. It is not the way human beings speak. They do not offer challenges like that. But here we have it in the Qur'an, a direct challenge saying: "If you have a better idea as to where this book came from, here's all you need to do. Find some inconsistencies."
There are critics who make the attempt, critics who try to say the Qur'an contains inconsistencies. A publication that came to my attention recently suggested that the Qur'an was contradictory on the subject of marriage, because in one place, it says: "don't marry more than one wife unless you can provide for them all," and in another place it says: "Don't marry more than four." They see this as a contradiction. What they have is a counter-distinction. In one case, the qualification for marrying more than one has been given. In the other case a limitation on how many may be married is given. There is no contradiction.
Critics are too quick to grab hold of something, give it an interpretation, and then offer it as an excuse to escape the reality of this document.
For critics who would attack the Qur'an and insist it contains mistakes, we can use the same method as in our reply to Christians who claim that Jesus is on record as claiming to be equal to God. Remember the three categories of evidence offered. The evidence offered was insufficient, ambiguous or impossible.
You see, if someone cites a verse from the Qur'an, trying to show that it is a mistake, we only need to show that the verse cited is insufficient to establish that there is a mistake or we need to show that the verse cited cannot possible have the interpretation which the critic is giving it. It will always fall into one of these three categories.

Attributing it to the Devil

I had experience, on one occasion, describing some of the contents in the Qur'an to a man who did not know the book I was talking about. He sat next to me with the cover turned over. I just told him about the book, what it contained and told him it was not the Bible. His conclusion was, the book was miraculous. This man was a minister in a Christian Church. He said, "Yes, that book could not possible have originated with the man and therefore it must come from the devil, because it's not the Bible."
The Qur'an comments on this suggestion in chapter twenty-six, verse two-hundred and eleven, as to those who would suggest that the book came from the devil. It points out that it does not quite suit him, does it? Is this how the devil misleads people? He tells them, worship none but God, he insists that they fast, that they practice charity. Is this how the devil misleads people?
Compare the attitude of someone like this, to the attitude of the Jews who knew Jesus and opposed him until the very end. There is an episode reported in the Bible where Jesus raised a man from the dead, one Lazarus, who had been dead for four days. When Lazarus came out of the tomb, alive again those Jews who were watching, what did they do? Did they suddenly say that this man is a true prophet and become believers? No, the Bible says they immediately discussed among themselves that "since this man is working on his signs soon everyone will believe in him. We've got to find a way to kill him," and they attributed his miraculous powers to the devil. He raised that man by the power of the devil.
Now, the Christians who read that episode will feel very sorry for those Jews who had clear evidence right before their very eyes and attribute the miracles to the devil. Does it not appear that they may be doing the same thing when we illustrate what we have in the Qur'an and their final excuse is only: "It originated with the devil."

A Different Story

There are those who insist that the Qur'an was copied, that it originated in Christian and Jewish sources. As a matter of fact, a book published in recent years called Worshipping the Wrong God has stated, as though it were a fact, that after the first revelation of the Qur'an came to Muhammad, peace be upon him, that his wife died and so he quickly married a Jew and a Christian, and this is where he drew the rest of his sources for his book.
Well, they have the facts partly right. It was ten years after the first revelation of the Qur'an that his wife died, and it was another ten years after that when the Qur'an was virtually completed that he married a Jew and a Christian.
Did he copy from Jewish and Christian sources? In the Qur'an, the ruler of Egypt who opposed Moses is known as Fir'aun, not Pharaoh. The Jews and Christians have always said 'Pharaoh'. It is easy for an Arab to say 'Pharaoh'. But in the Qur'an, it is Fir'aun, with an 'n'. Why? Surely the Jews must have teased them about that and said: "You've got the word wrong. It's 'Pharaoh' and not Fir'aun." But they insisted on it and it continues that way in the Qur'an, Fir'aun.
As it happens, this historical writings of Herodotus, the Greek historian, exist to this day, and Herodotus comments on the ruler of Egypt, being in his day and in the centuries before him, one man who went by the title of Fir'aun.
Did the book copy from the Christians sources? The Qur'an insists that Jesus was not crucified, that this was only an illusion, but that the Jews who thought they crucified Jesus were mistaken because it was not really so. Christians would have no part of that. As it happens, the idea that Jesus was not really crucified is really very ancient and can be traced back to the first century. But Christians who believed that were eliminated as heretics within the first two-hundred years after the time of Jesus and they were not teaching this doctrine anywhere around the Arabian Peninsula fourteen centuries ago.
Could the author of the Qur'an have been copying from Christian sources when he says that Jesus spoke to man as a babe (3:46) and in later life? The Arabic word used indicates that he was still speaking to man and teaching to them in the forties. The Christians have always maintained that Jesus was gone by the time he was thirty-three. It indicates that there could have been no copying. In fact, a man would have to be stubborn and insists on the points as explained in the Qur'an in the face of Christian opposition who would have said: "No! No! I wasn't like that. We tell the story differently."

House Cleaning

Now we go to the words of the prophets themselves, which represent another path that leads to Islam. In the Persian scriptures, which have been around for thousands of years, we read:
"When the Persians should sink so low in mortality, a man will be born in Arabia whose followers will upset their throne, religion and everything. The mighty stiff-necked ones will be overpowered. The house which was built and in which many idols have been placed will purged of idols and people will say their prayers facing towards it. His followers will capture the towns of the Farsi, Entaus and Balkh, and other big places round about. People will embroil with one another. The wise men of Persia and others will join his followers." (Desature no.14)
The Muslims recognize this very quickly because the Ka'bah, the building which all Muslims face in prayers everyday, was at one time filled with idols and it was part of the mission of Muhammad , peace be upon him, to purge the house of idols till today. It was in the next generation, after the time of the Prophet that the wise men of Persia and others did join his followers.

A Prophet Like Moses

In the Bible, in Deuteronomy chapter eighteen, we have the words of Moses who reports that God told him that H would raise up a prophet, from among the brothers of the Israelites, like Moses.
Christians wish to apply this to Jesus, to say he was the prophet like Moses. It is uncomfortable for them to recognize, however that Jesus was not very much like Moses and Jesus had no father, no wife, no children; he did not die of old age, and he did not lead a nation; all these things Moses had or did. But they say, well, Jesus will return; he will return as a victorious person, and so he will be more like Moses. Do they really expect he will return to also acquire a father and a wife and children and then die of old age? Not usually. Moreover, Jesus was an Israelite. The passage of scripture says that this prophet that was foretold would be raised up among the brothers of the Israelites, not from the Israelites.
In the third chapter of Acts, the disciple Peter speaks to a crowd of people and explains that Jesus has been take up and he is in heaven. He will remain in Heaven and he cannot return until all the things that were promised but God come to pass. So what are we still waiting for, does he tell the crowd? He quotes this very saying of Moses saying:
"For God will raise up a prophet from among the brothers of the Israelites like Moses..."
The point is very clear. Christians like to see this prophet as being Jesus. But read carefully Acts chapter three, what it says is that Jesus awaits a return. He cannot return until the fulfillment of this prophecy, that another prophet has to come. Jesus spoke of it himself and the words survived, just barely, but they survived in the bible. Jesus spoke of God sending another 'Paraclete'.

Paraclete

There is a lot of argument over the meaning of this word 'Paraclete'. For now we can leave that aside. What is a 'Paraclete'? It does not matter. The first letter of John shows that Jesus was a 'Paraclete'. He is called a 'Paraclete' and we have Jesus promising another 'Paraclete' is going to be sent. We lose a lot by this word 'another' in English because it is ambiguous. If someone's car breaks down, and it is a Toyota, and I say, '" I'll go get you another car," maybe I mean, "I'll go and get you another Toyota because this one you have is broken," or maybe I mean, "Forget Toyota, they're no good; I'll go and get you a Datsun." It is an ambiguous word. But the Greeks had a word for it. When they meant 'another' of the same kind, they said aloes. When they meant another of a different kind, they said heteroes. The important thing there is that when Jesus, who was himself a Paraclete, said "God will send you another Paraclete" he used the word aloes, not heteroes.
Christians want to say that this other 'Paraclete' that has been sent was different from Jesus. It was not a man, it was a spirit. What Jesus said was: God will send you another one like me, another man." Muslims believe that Muhammad is the fulfillment of this prophecy by Jesus. The Qur'an says that this man is mentioned in the scriptures of the Jews and the Christians (see7:157).
Christians came to expect that the return of Jesus because of a Jewish misunderstanding. 'Messiah' and 'Son of Man' have been given special significance by the Jews, even though may people were called by this same name as in the Bible. The Jews came to expect a victorious leader. When Jesus did not turn out to be quite what many expected, they hatched the idea that he would return some day and fulfill all these prophecies.

Follower of Jesus

Suppose that someone observed Jesus two-thousand years ago, and he left this planet, or he went to sleep for two-thousand years an returned today to look for the followers of Jesus, who would he find? Who would he recognize? Christians? I conclude with just this food for thought: the Bible says very clearly that Jesus used to fast. Do Christians fast? Muslims fast; it is obligatory on month every year. The Bible says that Jesus prayed by touching his forehead to the ground. Do Christians pray in this manner? Muslims do. It is characteristic of their prayer and no one on earth is probably ignorant of that fact.
According to Jesus, he told his disciples to greet one another with the expression, "Peace be with you." Do the Christians do that? Muslims do, universally, whether they speak Arabic of not. The greeting for one to another is Assalamu' alaikum (peace be with you).
The brother of Jesus in the Book of James, stated that no man should suggest what he is about to do of highlight his plans for the next few days in anyway without adding the phrase "if God wills." Do not say "I will go here and there do this and that" without adding the phrase "if God wills." Do Christians do that? Muslims do, whether they speak Arabic or not. If they so much as suggest they are going downtown to pick up some groceries, they will add Insha-Allah, which in Arabic means, "If God wills."

These conclude my thoughts on this subject. May Allah guide us always closer to the truth.

NO COPYRIGHT. Any organisation or individual wishing to reprint this booklet may do so freely. An acknowledgment to the author will be appreciated.

Courtesy:-http://arifsmartchef.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.html

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2011-02-21T19:18:00.000-08:00

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2010-12-11T22:05:00.000-08:00

Youth- 30 ways to spend your day

2010-11-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

Bismillahir ar-Rahmanir ar-Rahim

We all know how uncertain life is and most of us may directly or indirectly know of young people who have passed away. Knowing this fact then what is it that is fooling us into thinking that we may not be next? What is stopping us from thinking that the next grave to be filled is not ours?

The youth will come and go and if we waste it then we will regret it forever without a doubt. This is the best time to gain god habits. This is the best time to go closer to Allah! There is no time like the present and there may not be anytime left for us to see tomorrow. So now is the time we have to make the changes before it’s too late!

This life is just a test and we are on a short journey here to our final and ultimate destination which is the hereafter. Hereafter is for eternity and this life is but a few short hours so what should we work for?

Here are some tips on how the youth should spend everyday of their lives in pleasing Allah and going closer to him before:

1. Having a good sleeping pattern

We need to structure our day and also get ourselves into a proper sleeping pattern where we sleep and wake up around the same times so our body gets used to it. The best time to sleep would be around half 10 no later than half 11 and this ensures that we can easily wake up for Fajr Salah and even wake up for Tahajjud which is one of the best prayers after Fard Salah and the best way to get closer to Allah and achieve high ranks in Paradise!

We should try to sleep and wake up around the same time so our body would then adjust to this pattern and we would even end up waking up naturally around the same time.

Sleep is meant to be for nights and the day is meant to be for activity so make sure you don’t spend the nights awake if there is no valid reason for it or if it is not necessary to be awake after 11.

2. Exercise

We should try and exercise at least 30-45 minutes a day. The best exercise is in the morning where one can go for a jog or swift walk or a gym which may be better motivation for most. It is best to do some resistance training as well which also aides in weight loss and keeping body in good shape for Ibadah (worship).

If you exercise then you will be able to get good sleep and also get up in the mornings easier especially for Fajr. So make a routine of going to the gym at least 3 to 4 times a week or doing 45 minutes swift walking a day or a jog in the morning or any part of the day. Cycling is also good as it takes the pressure of the knees.

3. Limit time watching TV, playing video games and on the computer

We should try to Limit our time watching TV and spent playing games and on the computer otherwise one can easily get carried away and spend hours on end watching TV, playing games and on the computer and waste significant amounts of time which we can NEVER get back!.

4. Watch what you eat

It is very important one eats right as what we eat will effect us day to day and many foods will make us feel lazy and lethargic which will effect our Ibadah (Worship). Therefore what we out into our stomachs everyday is extremely important.

5. Breakfast

We should always eat a good breakfast because it would give us the best start to the day. Rasulallah (Pbuh) used to have honey in some warm water when he woke up. This cleanses the stomach.

A while later a good breakfast to have would be oats and porridge as they slowly release energy and most other cereals have way too much sugar in them. Of one can have some yoghurt with honey and fruit. One can sweeten ones porridge with a little honey. One can also have brown wholegrain toast with boiled egg.

6. Lunch

Have a light but filling lunch because if our lunch is too heavy then we will certainly begin to feel lethargic later on in the afternoon so make sure you don’t have a heavy lunch. It is best to avoid fried foods and too much carbohydrates at lunch as in too much rice, pasta or potato as these can make you very lethargic later on in the afternoon.

Stick to eating a healthy wholegrain bread sandwich with salmon, tuna, chicken with salad or soup with some brown bread. Whatever you eat make sure its not too heavy as this will make one very tired towards the middle to end of the afternoon and make one groggy after coming home from work especially after a long day.

7. Snacking

Avoid snacking on too many crisps, chocolates and biscuits. Rather replace with fruit with yoghurt or healthy snacks. Avoid too much coffee and tea throughout the day because ones body can get used to it and one would end up getting headaches and groggy if one doesn’t have tea or coffee. Stick to a cup or two of green tea as this is a very good source of antioxidants.

8. Evening meal

Rasulallah(Pbuh) recommended eating evening meal so one should have a good meal in the evenings but again not too heavy because the heavier the meal the more harder it will be too get up in the morning for Fajr and work.

Have a high protein meal with more fish and chicken and meat about twice a week. If one doesn’t eat meat then replace with tofu, Soya products and paneer in a healthy stir fry with vegetables.

Try not to have too much rice or too many chapatti’s. Always have as much fresh vegetables and salad as you can with your meals.

Best to eat between 6 to 7 and no later because one should eat no later than 4 hours before sleep.

9. Balanced diet

Have a good and balanced diet not eating too much of any particular thing. Have plenty of fruit and vegetables of different varieties as our body needs a variety of vitamins, minerals and nutrients. Don’t rely on supplements rather take your vitamins and minerals naturally from healthy and fresh food.

10. Brain food

Almonds are a very good brain food as are oily fish which contain a lot of Omega 3 oils like Mackerel, sardines and salmon.

Also opt for a lot more wholegrain in your diet like whole grain bread, rice and pasta.

Seeds are also brilliant so get some mix seeds and put some in your porridge or on some yoghurt with honey every morning or as a desert or snack with honey. Have a lot of tomatoes as well which contain a lot of lycopene which is really good for your brain and for your skin.

11. Structure day

Structure your day properly and try to make a timetable or plan for yourself. You have to be determined and think to yourself “I cannot waste anymore time like this for death can come at any second and i need to make the best of my time”.

Making the best use of time in our lives is crucial. The time we have now has to be spent as much as possible worshipping Allah or no doubt it will become a source of regret for us in the hereafter. Here is what you can do to make the best use of your free time:

12. Salah (prayers)

We should all be praying our Fard Salah everyday 5 times without fail. If there is a discrepancy in our Fard Salah then we should really sort our act out because this is very serious. Watch this short clip on the importance of Salah:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNDb41OH46A

On top of praying our Fard Salah we should also pray our Sunnah Mu’kkadah which is the sunnah that we should read unless we have a valid excuse includes 2 Sunnah before Fard of Fajr, 4 Sunnah before Fard of Dhuhr and 2 after Fard of Dhuhr 2 after Fard of Maghrib, 2 after Fard of Isha.

The Ghair Mu’kkadah is the Sunnah is not emphasized but we should still read it as it is a lot of reward and a means of getting closer to Allah. These include the 4 Sunnah before 4 Fard of Asr and 4 Sunnah before 4 Fard of Isha.

As much as possible we should try to pray our Nafil Salah as this is one of the best ways to get closer to Allah and it also makes up for any deficiencies in our Fard salaah. Here are the nafil prayers we can pray everyday in addition to Fard and Sunnah:

VERY Rewarding Nafl Salaah’s we can Pray Everyday!

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/show…-Pray-Everyday!

We should try our best to do all of our Fard, sunnah and nafil everyday as we need as many good deeds as we can whilst we are alive and will regret the good deeds we missed out on.

13. Dhikr (Remembrance of Allah)

The easiest thing to do each day is the Dhikr and glorification of Allah. Rasulallah (Pbuh) advised us to always keep our lips moist with Dhikr. This is also one of the best deeds and once we get into the habit of it, it is the easiest and feels the sweetest in ones heart. The more Dhikr we do the more good acts like will gravitate towards. If we remember Allah all the time then we will remember the world less. When we remember Allah then Allah remembers us. If we forget Allah then Allah forgets us.

Dhikr is so east that we can do it anytime and anywhere especially in our free time, when were at school, college, university, work, or even out shopping or in paying a bil. Whatever were doing we should remember Allah and keep our lips moist with glorifying him.

It is best to use our fingers or a rosary (Tasbih) or even a metal Dhikr counter which is available in any Islamic shop. The reason why it is best to use a rosary and a counter is because they are the best reminders for one to do Dhikr in the first place. When you have it in your hands then you get reminded to do Dhikr but if you don’t then most often you would forget or not do as much as you could do if you had a counter.

I would recommend all to get a metal counter which I find most practical as one can use it whoever one maybe. You click the metal counter every time you repeat a glorification of Allah or a durood and you can count your Dhikr so as to quantify it so you can do different types of glorifications.

One should never let Shaythaan put one off doing Dhikr and one should note down how much Dhikr or glorifications one I going to do everyday so as to remind oneself what one has to do. it is always best to keep targets so as to reach them otherwise one will not have any goals or motivation to do it in the first place. Here are some glorifications we can all do everyday and it is best to make a minimum target how much of each we are going to do:

Easy Dhikr(Remembrance of Allah) light on the tongue but heavy on the scales!

http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/show…-on-the-scales!

14. Reciting the Qur’an

One of the greatest worship is reciting the Qur’an. We actually get rewarded for every letter that we read and we will be raised in Jannah depending on how much we recited and memorized so we should try our best to recite as much Qur’an as possible and also memorize as much as we can.

We should set ourselves a target of memorizing at least an Aayat a day and make effort to memorize Sura’s like Surah Yaasin and Surah Mulk which a believer should have in their hearts.

You could consider buying a smaller copy of the Qur’an which you can carry around with you and read whenever you have free time or on your breaks.

We should set ourselves a target of reading at least 1 juz (chapter) a day. If not then at least half a chapter a day or as much as one can read but it is best to set a target so one will do their best to reach it.

Reciting the Qur’an which are the sacred words of Allah and the most beautiful and best words in the universe is one of the best ways to spend our time. On top of reciting the Qur’an in Arabic those of us that are non Arabs should also read its translation and tafseer so as to understand what we are reading and understand what Allah is telling us in the Qur’an and ponder and contemplate over it.

One of the greatest deeds we can do is to read what Allah has written in the Qur’an and implement it into our daily lives. Once you have read the meaning of the Qur’an and ponder over what Allah is saying then you will feel the most amazing feelings you have ever felt it is truly beyond words!

Here is a brilliant translation of the Qur’an for you to download as a PDF file for free:

http://www.islamicbulletin.com/free_…mufti_taqi.pdf

So set yourself a target of how much one will recite and how much of its meanings will one read. A good way of doing it is read a chapter or half a chapter and then read its meanings. Or whatever one finds easiest.

14. Acquiring Islamic knowledge

There is so much to learn in Islam so get some good and reliable books on Islam that you would enjoy reading and learning about. It is always best to start from the basics and then build your way up. So get advice from those who are learned as to which books you should read and where you should start from.

Here is one of the best books for learning about the basics of Islam including Tawheed, how to pray do Wudhu, Ghusl. It also contains stories of the Prophets and much more. It is written in a very easy to read language style and is a very enjoyable read where one will be better acquainted with the basics. It is available to download for free as an E book in a PDF file along with many other free E books to download on the basics of Islam and much more:

http://www.islamicbulletin.com/servi…ls.aspx?id=268

15. Building a close relationship with the Masjid

If you are a brother then know that all Muslim males should read their Fard prayers at the Masjid and one should not be praying Fard salaah at home without a valid excuse. Rasulallah (Pbuh) has said that a person who prays at home without a valid excuse then he would get the youth to gather together wood to burn those houses. He is saying this as a metaphor but we should take it as a warning. Salah in the Masjid is rewarded up to 27 times or more than a prayer at home. That is a lot of reward.

So if there is no valid excuse then you should be praying all of your Fard Salah at the Masjid and one can and should pray their sunnah and nafil at home. If you’re a female then you should pray at home and you will get the same reward as a person who reads at the Masjid.

If your a male and have a Masjid within 20 minute walk then you should try and walk there for all of your Salah or as many as you can go to. This would be reward for you as well as exercise.

Build a close relationship with the house of Allah because it is the most favorite place of Allah and the worst places in the sight of Allah are the market places or in modern day times the high street and shopping malls where one will find a lot of fitna and evil.

16. Repentance and dua

We should realise that Allah is most merciful and he loves it when his slaves ask of him in dua and repent to him for our shortcomings, mistakes and minor and major sins.

Dua is the weapon of the believer therefore we should use it as much as we can in our daily lives and ask of Allah to help us in EVERY aspect of our lives. We should try to share everything with him no matter how big or small it is and we will find much peace and solace in making dua to Allah!

We should not keep dwelling over the sins we committed in the past. What’s done is done now we have to look to the future and not keeping looking at our past. We should take lessons from our past and do things better now and the future.

We should be remorseful over our past and present sins and have the intention of NEVER committing them again and make sincere repentance feeling bad about the sins we have committed.

We should constantly ask for forgiveness always and have hope in Allah that he will accept our repentance. We should also realise that Allah hears every dua and if you think he is not accepting your dua then it is because he has something better for you because as humans we tend to think we know what is best for us but we clearly don’t as ONLY our creator knows what is best for his creations.

So never stop asking of Allah for Allah gets angry with those who don’t ask of him:

“Whosoever does not make dua to Allah, He will be angry with Him.” [Saheeh Jaami`as-Sagheer #2414]

17. Choose your friends carefully

Once you have built a close relationship with the Masjid you then you will have built a closer relationship with Allah. If your a brother then one will find good and pious brothers at the Masjid where one has the opportunity in meeting good and pious brothers who will benefit and help us towards the right path.

If your a sister then join a sisters circle, halaqa’s and sisters programmes as these are beneficial gatherings where you can learn knowledge and mix with and find good and pious sisters who you can befriend and a good friend will help you towards Jannah and encourage you in doing good deeds which will please Allah and the bad friend will have the opposite effect.

We should try to spend as much time as possible with pious, righteous and learned people and keep away from keeping bad friends and those who are loose in their talk and have a bad influence towards you. These people are not your real friends trust me.

The Prophet (saws) said, “The case of the good companion and the bad companion is like that of the seller of musk and the blower of the bellows (iron-smith). As for the seller of musk, he will either give you some of the musk, or you will purchase some from him, or at least you will come away having experienced its good smell. Whereas the blower of the bellows will either burn your clothing, or at least you will come away having experienced its repugnant smell.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Remember: “All friends will be enemies of one another on that Day (Day of Judgment) except those of the virtuous.” (al-Qur’an 43:67)

One of the most important things we must do, which sadly many people neglect, is that we should avoid bad company. People we should avoid taking as friends those who speak too freely, who miss Salah, who do not dress modestly, who backbite, slander etc.

The company of such people is poison; just even sitting and talking with them will lead one to commit sins. Just as a person who sits for a long time with a perfume seller begins to smell nice, and a person who sits by a gutter cleaner begins to smell awful, similarly a person who spends time in the company of the wicked eventually gets affected badly by them.

Rather, we should seek out pious friends who fear Allah Ta’ala and who have the qualities of humility, charity, compassion, modesty and knowledge. If we sit with them we will always benefit and they will be a means for us to get closer to Allah Ta’ala!

21. Being the best towards others in character and manners

Many of us think that “a perfect Muslim” is simply one who is correct in the observance of the salaah (ritual Prayer), the fasting, the Zakaah (payment of a certain portion of one’s wealth to the poor), and the Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah). This indeed is not the case.

If the ritual observances do not help the person to be humble, virtuous and truly God-fearing, then he or she is not a real Muslim. A Muslim should be good and just in dealing with others, no matter their religion, and take special care to keep away from all the shameful and sinful things Allah has forbidden.

One can never get close to Allah by being arrogant, full of pride and having a bad character and manners. Those who have humility and are humble and have good character and manners are the closest to Allah and Allah raises their ranks in the hereafter. The best person is the one who is best towards others.

22. Spend time with family and maintain ties between family and close relatives who are mahram

Don’t forget to spend time with your family and close relatives as Islam emphasizes a lot about maintaining ties of kinship. If there is a dispute then be the first to try and resolve it or get an elder of the community or family involved to mediate matters and get advice from a learned scholar. The disputes should not be allowed to continue because of petty worldly matters and should be resolved straight away.

23. Keep away from non mahram and be-friending members of opposite sex

One should not be mixing with or spending time with any family or relatives that are non mahram and one should certainly not be alone with any of them as Shaythaan is always third party when a mahram and non mahram are together.

One should also not be mixing with those of the opposite sex because Allah tells us to keep away from anything that leads to adultery and be-friending a member of the opposite sex always starts off with something innocent and leads to haraam and major sin so totally avoid contact with the opposite gender for it is only for your own good. It is Shaythaan that deceives one into thinking that it is ok to befriend the opposite sex but the main aim of Shaythaan is to take us towards destruction and HELL!

So let us not listen to our enemy but abide by the commandments of Allah and know that he sees all that we do!

24. Keep away from sin by fearing Allah and remembering death can come ANY second!

We constantly get distracted in our daily lives as to our purpose in this life and why we are here. That is why we should constantly remember death as death is the destroyer of all pleasures and brings us back to reality that we are mortals and that our time here is only very temporary and can end at ANY second. Read more here about death the destroyer of pleasures:

http://www.lutonmuslims.co.uk/destroyer.htm

We should always fear Allah and know that he is watching our every move and that at ANY moment death can overcome us like it did for these three people:

Please watch these three very short clips which will certainly shock us into realising that one second we may be normal and smiling and getting on with things and the next second overcome by death!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHhX4roeEco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYGR5iIbn9o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MU3VMuEAxY0

25. Controlling our body parts from sin

We should cleanse our hearts by remembering Allah as much as we can and doing good deeds because this will purify our hearts and take away the blackness of our hearts from sin. The heart is the leader of the limbs and if the heart is cleaned then it will commend the other limbs to do good but if it is blackened with sin then it will command the limbs towards sin.

Let us keep away from sin of our tongue in particular which is the main reason for the majority why a majority of people will enter Hell.

We should also lower our gaze because the adultery of the eyes is to gaze at that which we should not look at.

We should guard our ears from listening to music which is forbidden in Islam due to the fact that it creates artificial emotions inside of us and weakens our Imaan distracting us from worship of Allah. The first to sing was also Shaythaan.

We should guard our privates against masturbation, fornication and adultery as all of these are major sins and will lead us towards destruction. Know that Allah sees all that we do!

26. Helping parents

We should help our parents as much as is possible because the greatest reward after prayer is helping your mother. Do as much good towards them as you can and be the best towards them and never even say “uff” to your parents. If we be bad towards our parents then Allah will make our children the same towards us.

Remember we only have one pair of parents and they will not be with us for long or many of us may have already lost or both parents. So make the best use of the time you have with your parents because when they are gone then all we will have left is regret forever!

Please watch this short clip – Appreciate your mother or you will regret it forever!- This will make you cry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4NwYrlqkcY

27. Having the right intentions

Everything can become a reward for us with the right intention. That includes education, work, eating, drinking, sleeping, exercise etc All with the right intention that we are doing it only for the pleasure of Allah.

If we worship Allah as much as we can then Allah will help us in all other aspects of our lives including at school, college, university, work and also getting work and with whatever we need in regards to worldly matters.

With the right intention then all of our good deeds can be multiplied in reward but any good deed we do for the pleasure of others or to show off then those deeds will be replaced with major sin and we will be punished for it unless we change our ways and repent sincerely making sure we do ALL good deeds for the pleasure of Allah ONLY!

So we should always check our intentions before doing any act!

28. Overcoming laziness and procrastination!

Shaythaan will always try his best to slow down our progress that is why we must change our mindset and attitude and constantly remind ourselves of our purpose in life and that we can be overcome by death at ANY second! Shaythaan can only whisper but we have the power over our body’s and lives so let us take our body towards goodness and away from sin and evil!

Feeling this lazy cannot be good for your worship as it would make you lazy in your ship to.

Procrastination and laziness are two of Shaytaan’s strongest strategies to stop us from performing good deeds. It is necessary for the wise person to take matters into his/her own hand and harness his/her energy in a positive way everyday.

The person who breaks the back of Shaytaan in the start of the day will not just pass his time day dreaming and in mindless pursuits, he will make sure that every second of his time is spent fruitfully. In winter, Fajr Salaah is much later. So let us break the back of Shaytaan and kick-start our day with Salaat!

Shaytaan causes people to forget the truth and the Commands of Allah. ‘Shaytaan has overtaken them. So he has made them forget the remembrance of Allah. They are the party of Shaytaan…’ [Surah al-Mujadilah (58): 19] But as soon as we remember, we should strive to leave that which distracted us from the remembrance of Allah and His Commands as the Qur’an commands us, ‘If Shaytaan causes you to forget, then do not sit after the remembrance in the company of the wrong-doers.’ [Surah al-An'am (6): 68]

So the one who wants to do some good deed should carry out his action with determination and resolve. Resolve means not wasting time and not delaying things. He should forget about the idea of having plenty of time because the one who has been warned (of the punishment of Allah) should not be assured.

What you miss, you cannot make up for it. The reason for every shortcoming or inclination of evil is the belief that there is plenty of time and a lot of hope, because man keeps thinking of giving up evil and turning towards good, but delays. No doubt, whoever thinks that he has the whole day ahead of him will take his time, and whoever has the hope that he will still be there in the morning will do very little during the night, but the one who thinks of death as imminent will strive harder.

You need to discipline yourself otherwise you will waste huge amounts of time which you will never get back and who knows when death will come for life is so uncertain and we need to prepare before preparations are made for our funerals!

The Prophet (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) used to make a du’a:

اللّهُمَّ إنِّي أعُوذُبِكَ مِن العَجزِ وَ الكَسلٍ

Transliteration: Allahumma inniy a’oothubika min al-ajzi wal-kasli
Translation: O Allah, I seek refuge in you from incapability and laziness.

29. Make good use of your youth before it’s over!

Make the best use of your youth until it is over because you will never be able to get it back. The youth is the best time for worship and getting closer to Allah so let us make the best of this time that we have and not waste it otherwise we will regret it FOREVER!

Download this very beneficial PDF file called: “A message to the youth”

http://www.kalamullah.com/Books/A_Me…very_Youth.pdf

We will also be asked by Allah on the day of judgment how we spent our youth. There is no guarantee that we will make it another day so we should make the best of now and the present for tomorrow may never come!

Narrated by Ibn Abbas: Allah’s Apostle said,

“Take advantage of five matters before five other matters: your youth before you become old; and your health before you fall sick; and your richness before you become poor; and your free time before you become busy; and your life before your death.”

[Musnad Imam Ahmad]

30. Self evaluation on a daily basis

Self-evaluation means to assess where you are in life, set goals for the future, and think of what you can do to get there.

The process of self-evaluation makes one pro-active in directing one’s life in order to achieve the goals one sets for themself. Unless we take the initiative our lives will be shaped by circumstances.

This is a brilliant tool for us to self evaluate ourselves just like people keep logs or diaries to remind them of things so that we can evaluate and improve ourselves on a daily basis.

This “Daily Ibadah (worship) check” chart is perfect for you to evaluate worship on a daily basis so as to make improvements from there. You can download it and make print outs. Each chart represents one week:

My Daily Ibadah (worship) check

http://www.sunniforu…/show…worship)-check

Implement this new routine into our lives NOW for tomorrow may never come!

So let us put all of this into our daily routine so that everyday can be a rewarding day for us. Let us spend our youth pleasing Allah and being close to him and not waste our youth for we will never get it back and if we waste it then surely we will regret it FOREVER and by then it would have been too late!

May Allah guide us towards the straight path and make us the best of the good doers and the biggest benefactors of Islam! Ameen

Female Genital Circumcission-History and the Stance of Islaam regarding it.

2010-09-11T22:31:00.000-07:00

Female Circumcision in Islam (part 1 of 2): The History of Female Genital Cutting (FGC) and its Types

Description: The various types of female genital cutting (FGC), its geography, and the different reasons it was performed in various societies.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 13 Nov 2006 - Last modified on 19 Nov 2006
Viewed: 32191 (daily average: 23) - Rating: 4 out of 5 - Rated by: 9
Printed: 1015 - Emailed: 11 - Commented on: 0
Category: Articles > Current Issues > Women

A common phenomenon which has been regretfully associated almost exclusively with Islam is the various forms of female genital cutting, or FGC[1]. Although many of those who are involved in this act attribute to the religion of Islam, the majority of the forms of FGC present in the world today which are acts truly abominable, acts of which the religion of Islam is innocent. In no way does Islam condone these actions, and they should be looked at something purely culture and not Islamic. Amnesty International asserts, “FGC [female genital cutting] predates Islam and is not practiced by the majority of Muslims, but has acquired a religious dimension.”[2] The Female Genital Cutting Education and Networking Project states, “...it is not an Islamic practice. FGC is a cross-cultural and cross-religious ritual. In Africa and the Middle East, it is performed by Muslims, Coptic Christians, members of various indigenous groups, Protestants, and Catholics, to name a few.”[3] One sect of Jews, the Falashas, also circumcise both sexes.[4] We will first look into the various types of FGC, and then examine why various cultures implemented these techniques upon their female constituencies.

Types of Female Genital Cutting

Female genital cutting is “term used to refer to any practice which includes the removal or the alteration of the female genitalia.”[5] There are three basic types of FGC[6]:

Type I: This is the mildest form of FGC, which includes removing or splitting the prepuce (foreskin or ‘hood’) which covers the clitoris of females, thus exposing the glans. This may be couple with partial or total excision of the clitoris. This is known as clitoridotomy (slang: hoodectomy). According to the United Nations Population Fund, this form is comparable to male circumcision.[7] This is sometimes also called “sunna circumcision” due to the fact that it is this type which is performed commonly by those Muslims who believe it to be legislated in Islam.

Type II: In this type, known as clitoridectomy, the clitoris and labia minora is partially or totally removed.

Type III: This is one of the most extreme forms of FGC, involving the total excision of the clitoris, both the labia minora and majora, and the joining of the two sides of the vulva across the vagina, sewn with thread or secured with other items, until it heals joining together. Only a small, pencil-size hole is left to allow passage of menstrual blood and urine. This is known as infibulation or Pharaonic Circumcision, in reference to its origins.

Type IV: This type is inclusive of all other forms of genital cutting, such as: pricking, piercing or incision of the clitoris and/or labia; stretching of the clitoris and/or labia; cauterization by burning of the clitoris and surrounding tissue; introcision, scraping (angurya cuts) or cutting (gishri cuts) of the vagina or surrounding tissue; and introduction of corrosive substances or herbs into the vagina.

Geography

Various forms of FGC is practiced throughout the world, but it is most common in sub-Saharan Africa, in a band stretching East from Senegal to Somalia, as shown on the map. It also exists in the Middle East, North and South America, Indonesia and Malaysia. Type III is almost exclusive to Somalia, Sudan and southern Egypt, along with some areas in Mali and Nigeria.

We find that in some societies, such as Somalia, Eritrea , and Ethiopia, almost all women undergo type III of FGC. Reasons range from regarding the woman as unclean if the clitoris is not completely removed, to ensuring that women remain chaste until marriage. This is practice is an age old custom in these societies, and members fear to leave it out of fear of chastisement. Women may not be able to get married, or even be accused of committing fornication. Families may also loose their honor if this tradition is not kept with.

FGC was also a common practice in North America, and specifically in the U.S., type I, II and III was common until the 1950’s in order to control female sexuality. Clitoridectomy was performed for various reasons. One of the most common reasons was to reduce masturbation. In England, Isaac Baker Brown published a book about his successes in treating female masturbation with clitoridectomy. He also claimed it to cure obscure nervous disorders such as hysteria and epilepsy.[8] Many more solutions were offered for masturbation, such as chastity belts, first used in medieval times to ensure that wives remain chaste while their husbands were away. In order to prevent masturbation in boys, spiked rings even more drastic measures were employed, such as cauterization and even castration.[9]

In one of the most classic of pediatric textbooks, Diseases of Infancy and Childhood, published 11 times from 1897 to 1940, the author L.E. Holt advocated cauterization of the clitoris as well as blistering the vulva as a preventive measures for masturbation. Masturbation was seen as the reason of many ills, such as neuroticism, disobedience, and disrespect of parents.[10]

In the U.S. an organization known as the Orificial Surgery Society was formed, publishing journals mentioning the various benefits of clitoridectomy, even for things as trivial as headaches.

There were also many hygienic benefits that were thought to be produced by clitoridotomy. C.F. McDonald states in a 1958 paper entitled Circumcision of the Female[11]: “If the male needs circumcision for cleanliness and hygiene, why not the female? I have operated on perhaps 40 patients who needed this attention.” The author states that it remedies “irritation, scratching, irritability, masturbation, frequency and urgency,” and smegmaliths causing “dyspareunia and frigidity.”

Until recently the clitoris was seen as un unclean thing. Even Sigmund Freud, one of the founders of modern psychology, stated in one of his books Sexuality and the Psychology of Love, the “elimination of clitoral sexuality is a necessary precondition for the development of femininity.”

Today in the west, many adults choose to undergo clitoridotomy, as some doctors[12] and others[13] advocate clitoridotomy, claiming that it increases sexual pleasure. They state that over-sized clitoral hood may impede in the stimulation of the clitoris. Some websites, such as Circlist, BMEzine, and geocities, even have testimonials of people who underwent the process, as well as medical reports promoting the practice. They show that the majority of women reported increased sexual pleasure after the procedure (87.5% in Rathmann’s 1959 study[14] and 75% in Knowles’).

Footnotes:

[1] Some opponents of this practice use the term Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM, but the term FGC is being used more commonly these days in order to avoid stirring social sensitivities.

[2] What is Female Genital Mutilation? Amnesty International.. (http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGACT770061997?open&of=ENG-370)

[3] Female Genital Cutting (FGC): An Introduction, Marianne Sarkis. (http://www.fgmnetwork.org/intro/fgmintro.html).

[4] Andree, “Zur Volkskunde der Juden,” p. 84.

[5] Female Genital Cutting (FGC): An Introduction, by Marianne Sarkis (http://www.fgmnetwork.org/intro/index.html).

[6] Female Genital Mutilation: Report of a WHO Technical Working Group, Geneva, 17-19 July 1995.” World Health Organization: Geneva. 1996.

[7] Frequently Asked Questions on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (http://www.unfpa.org/gender/practices2.htm#4).

[8] “The Ritual of Circumcision”, by Karen Ericksen Paige. Human Nature, pp 40-48, May 1978.

[9] ibid.

[10] ibid.

[11] McDonald, C.F., M.D (September, 1958). “Circumcision of the Female.

[12] Ezzell, Carol (October 31, 2000). “Anatomy and Sexual Dysfunction”.

[13] Clitoral Circumcision. Tantra * Kama Sutra * Tantric Sex & Tantric philosophy.

[14] Rathmann, W.G., M.D. (September, 1959). “Female Circumcision: Indications and a New Technique.”

Female Circumcision in Islaam(part 2 of 2) Circumcision amongst Muslims

Description: A discussion of the notion that female “sunnah” circumcision, or Type I FGC, has an Islamic basis.
By IslamReligion.com
Published on 20 Nov 2006 - Last modified on 04 Oct 2009
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Category: Articles > Current Issues > Women

A Difference of Opinion

Although circumcision of males is an act regarded as commendable in Islam, the scholars have differed in regards to females. Some scholars have regarded the act as commendable, while others regard it as merely permissible. Lately, some have even stated its impermissibility. All these opinions are based upon a number of Prophetic narrations (hadeeths) relating to this subject.

The scholars of Islam who state that circumcision is a commendable act mainly do so due to a hadeeth in which the Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, said:

“Circumcision is Sunnah for men and an honorable thing for women.” (Musnad Ahmad)

From this narration, the scholars of Islam understand the encouragement of the Prophet to circumcise both men and women to be a commendable act in the religion, based about known principles of Islamic Jurisprudence.

Those who regard it as merely being something permissible base their opinion on an additional narration, known as the narration of Umm Atiyyah, in which the Prophet came to know of a circumcision being performed upon a female child. He related instruction to the woman performing it saying:

“Trim, but do not cut into it, for this is brighter for the face (of the girl) and more favorable with the husband.” (Mu`jam al-Tabarânî al-Awsat)

From this hadeeth, the scholars deduce the permissibility of the circumcision of females, as the Prophet did not clearly forbid it. They also deduce, however, the impermissibility of going to extremes in doing so, based upon his prohibition of “cutting into it”.

When one looks into the statements of the scholars of hadeeth, however, they will find that quite a number of the most prominent of them, such as Ibn Hajar, al-Bukhari, Abu Dawud, al-Bayhaqi, ibn-ul-Mundthir, ash-Shawkani, state that they are weak and cannot be relied upon. Ibn ul-Mundthir said:

“There is no report about circumcision that can be relied upon, and no chain of transmission that can be followed.”[1]

It is known amongst the scholars of Islam that if a hadeeth is found to be weak and unreliable, it is impermissible that it be used as evidence to establish a ruling in Islam, as all legal rulings in the religion must be verified with authentic, unambiguous proofs

“Sunnah” Circumcision

What one can see is that Type I FGC, sometimes called “Sunnah” circumcision, does have some basis in the religion of Islam, however weak this basis may be. It is key to note, however, that it is only this first type which some of the scholars regarded as permissible or commendable, which is the clipping of the prepuce until the glans becomes visible, or less. This procedure is harmless and has no detrimental effects upon women, and is similar to the circumcision of men, as mentioned previously. Rather, some have even argued that there are some benefits to this procedure, as mentioned earlier, such as increase of sexual pleasure, prevention of unpleasant odors which result from foul secretions beneath the prepuce, and reduction of the incidence of urinary tract infections and infections affecting the reproductive system.[2]

As for the other types of FGC, there is no basis for this practice in Islam, rather it is strictly prohibited, as in the hadeeth which implies its permissibility is a prohibition from going to extremes. Also, Islamic law protects women’s right to sexual enjoyment, demonstrated by the fact that a woman has the right to divorce on the grounds that her husband does not provide sexual satisfaction. As for those Muslims in certain parts of the world which do practice this form of female genital mutilation, as they grow in their understanding of Islam, they will start to put aside these abominable actions. A clear example of this is that that one of the various groups in Kenya who do not practice FGM are the Muslims, although it is a country whose people are known to practice it,.

We must emphasize, however, that the correct stance is that there is no reliable text which directly encourages any form of circumcision, and thus the matter is left to other general texts which prohibit infliction of harm and those which encourage all things healthy and beneficial. One fundamental of Islamic jurisprudence is that what is not specifically prohibited is allowed, but still subject to other indirect texts. This makes for a great deal of tolerance in religion, but also allows it to cope with new issues brought by time. If it is found that circumcision is medically beneficial to females or to society, then it would be at the most something encouraged by Islam, as all things beneficial to life are regarded as commendable in religion. But if it is found, on the other hand, that circumcision is harmful, then it would definitely be regarded as something forbidden in Islam, as Dr. Abd al-Rahmân b. Hasan al-Nafisah, editor of the Contemporary Jurisprudence Research Journal based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia stated in his article entitles Female Circumcision & Islam: “In Islamic Law, preservation of the person – the life and bodily soundness of the person – is a legal necessity. Anything that compromises this legal necessity by bringing harm to the person is unlawful.”[3]

Footnotes:

[1] Talkhees al-Habeer. Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani. Hadeeth #2140.

[2] Female Circumcision: A Medical Perspective, Sitt al-Banaat Khaalid. 2003.

[3] (http://islamtoday.com/showme2.cfm?cat_id=2&sub_cat_id=822).

The Varying Forms of Wrongful Backbiting

2010-03-19T11:18:00.000-07:00

By Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah

There are found amongst the people those that will backbite in accordance to his gathering and his companions and his associates. Whilst his knowing that the one being backbitten is free of what it is they say – or of some of what they say. However; he sees that if he were to forbid them then the sitting will cease and the people of the sitting would become sullen with him just as they would become estranged from him. So he sees compliance with them through good social relations as well as good companionship; so when they become angered then he likewise becomes angry due to their being angered – so he takes it up with them.

Then there are those that take backbiting out into many forms. So at times it would be in the form of Religion and rectification, so he will say: ‘I am not in the habit of mentioning anyone except in good; and I neither like backbiting nor lies. However I shall inform you of his affairs.’ So He will say: ‘By Allaah – he is Miskeen (weak/pitied) – or he is a good man; however he has in him such and such.’ Or he may say: ‘let us leave off him; may Allaah forgive him and us.’ Whilst his intent is to belittle him as well as causing a wrong to his flank. Thus taking the backbiting out from the form of rectification and Religion. They seek to deceive Allaah with that just as they deceive the creation. For we have seen this and its like from them in many varying colours.

Then there are those that will elevate other than himself out of showing off – and then raise himself. So he will say: ‘If I had supplicated for so and so last night in my prayer; then there would have reached me from him such and such.’ So as to raise himself whilst putting him down with the one that may have faith in him. Or he may say: ‘so and so is dull in intelligence and has little understanding.’ So his intent is the praise of himself and establishing his awareness of him – and that he is better than him.

Likewise from them are those that are carried by envy upon backbiting; and so will gather between two ugly affairs: backbiting as well as envy. So when an individual is praised, then he will try to remove that from him through showing his deficiencies in the form of Religion and rectification – or in the form of envy and immorality and dispraise – in order to remove that from him.

Then there are those that take backbiting out into the form of mockery and play; in order to bring laughter to other than himself through his joking and his mimicry and his belittling of the one he is joking about.

Then there are those that take backbiting out into the form of amazement; so he will say: ‘I am amazed at so and so at how he does not do such and such?! And from so and so as to how he fell into such and such; and how he did such and such.’ Thus pronouncing his name during the course of his amazement.

There are those from them that show sorrow; so he will say: ‘so and so is weak/pitied, it has caused me sorrow for what has happened to him and what the outcome was for him.’ So he who hears him thinks that he has sorrow for him and that he is regretful and that his heart is covered in the attainment of recovery for him; and if it were possible then he would add to that which was with him. He may also mention him in front of his enemies so that they may profit from it. So this; and other than it is from amongst the greatest of the sicknesses of the heart as well as deceitfulness to Allaah and His creation.

From them are those that make apparent backbiting through the form of anger and disapproving something abominable. So there becomes manifest in this aspect certain things from the adornment of speech which contains fallacies. Whilst his intent was other than what he made apparent. And Allaah’s aid is sought.